The Agency Profit Podcast

Quick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice at this link!Guest Links:Robin’s latest book ‘Take Your Shot’ Robin’s websiteFearless Business websiteTwitterLinkedInInstagramAbout Robin Waite…In addition to Robin being founder of Fearless Business, he is also a regular speaker at various business events and the bestselling author of several books, including Online Business Startup, Marketing Machine, and the recent popular release Take Your Shot. He puts his 2 decades of business experience to work, coaching clients to reach their goals while creating more time and increasing their revenue. From 2004 to 2016, Robin led a successful marketing agency serving over 250 clients. During this time, he delivered workshops and masterclasses aiding over 1,000 business owners to improve not just their marketing and product architecture, but also their pricing, their websites, plus their digital advertising.Behind the scenes, Robin is a husband and father to two young girls, a surfer, and “Sunday warrior” (road cyclist). He has also – in the last four years alone – raised over £5k for a local Children’s charity, and imposed a goal to help remove 100kg of plastic from the World’s Oceans within the next 12 months via another charity he supports – 4Ocean. Furthermore, he holds a Guinness World Record for participating in the largest ever speed networking event. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Quick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice at this link.Guest Links:Twitter @eernoultLinkedIn @ernoultAgoraPulseAbout Emeric Ernoult…In short, Emeric is founder and CEO of AgoraPulse, one of the leading social media management platforms that is defining the future of Social Media Management. Among their users, such names as Ogilvy, Digital Butter, West Virginia University, and more.A self-confessed kitesurfing addict, Emeric also enjoys global jaunts in his camper van! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Quick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice at this link.Guest Links:ChristianBanach.comFree MasterclassLinkedInTwitterAbout Christian Banach…Christian Banach is a business development and growth consultancy company that helps advertising and marketing agencies land 6/7-figure opportunities predictably.Clients – including BBDO, Jack Morton, Vice Media, and Barkley – come to him to get more right-fit opportunities, thus bypassing the expensive and time-consuming RFP process, plus win even bigger deals!Through his consulting and outbound lead generation services, Christian’s clients build relationships with C-Suite/VP decision-makers at the world’s leading brands. He does this by using his PROPEL™ account-based sales process.When Christian isn’t working his brand of magic for clients, you can find him staying fit and active, or chasing the Chicago Cubs around the country! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Quick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice at this link.Guest Links:LinkedInAbout Liston Witherill…Liston Witherill is the founder of Serve Don’t Sell and creator of the Serve Don’t Sell Method. He works with expert service providers like designers, accountants, agency owners, consultants, and coaches who are great at delivering services but require help selling it. Liston also hosts the Modern Sales podcast and regularly publishes articles on the Serve Don’t Sell blog.When he’s not working – or enjoying some downtime by way of hiking, weightlifting, or creating hip-hop music – Liston is on a mission to change the way 100 million people sell so that buying services can feel as good as the day the world is fully vaccinated from COVID. He hopes you’ll join him on his mission. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Quick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice at this link.Guest Links:Joey hosts THE Best Damn Agency podcast. Every Wednesday, he interviews a “bad-ass seven or eight-figure agency.” Additionally, Joey’s mastermind director interviews him every Friday in a segment entitled Sales On The Rocks.LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/joeygilkeyBest Damn Agency podcastsalesdrivenagency.comAbout Joey Gilkey…Joey Gilkey is the CEO of Sales Driven Agency, which helps digital marketing agencies actually get sales right. Having built in the region of 350 agency sales operations and driven nearly half a billion dollars in agency revenue, Joey believes every successful agency could – and should – be driven by their sales operation.When he’s not helping agencies scale via their sales department, Joey enjoys shooting guns, sampling bourbon, and riding 4-wheelers. In unrelated news; we’re particularly enthused to be joined by him for this rescheduled podcast as he’s recently recovered from an unfortunate accident. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Quick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice at this link.Marcel's Links:My LinkedInParakeeto’s LinkedInTwitterAbout Me…I am co-founder and CEO of Parakeeto and fractional COO at Gold Front – a creative agency working with top tech companies in San Francisco, including Uber, Slack, and Google.In addition to being an agency profitability consultant – specializing in helping agencies get a handle on their gains – I’m also an in-demand keynote/virtual speaker and podcaster.When I’m not helping agencies make more money, I’m binge-watching soothing sitcoms while consuming my own weight in breakfast confections. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Quick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice at this link.Guest Links:LinkedIn @creativeagencysuccessInstagram @creativeagencysuccessFacebook @creativeagencysuccessAbout Robert Patin…Robert is Managing Partner at Patin & Associates, a Los Angeles-based business management and consultancy firm. He and his team help creative services agencies to grow their business, become more profitable and develop better strategies, a field in which he’s excelled for two decades.Not only has he been name-checked in both Forbes Entrepreneur, and The New York Post, he is someone I’ve really enjoyed talking to offline about all of these nerdy processed profitability finance questions that we enjoy tackling so much on the show! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Quick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice at this link.Guest Links:CustomCreatives.comTwitter @Rahul_AlimLinkedIn @rahulalimFacebook @rahulalim805YouTubeAbout Rahul Alim…Rahul Alim is the founder of Custom Creatives, a Digital Marketing Agency that connects companies with their dream clients. Throughout his career, he has helped brands such as Realtor.com, Geico, Advertise.com, Reach Local, and 1,000’s of local businesses.With 16+ years of experience running his agency, Rahul now coaches agency owners to grow 6 figure businesses with his proven G$D Sales Method. In short, his real talk yields real results.When he’s not helping to connect dream clients, he spends time with family at Dodgers games and Galaxy games. Want more from Rahul? Check out… Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Quick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice at this link.Guest Links:PlayLouder.comLinkedIn @josephdisantoTwitter @PlayLouderAbout Joe DiSanto…Joe has built multi-million dollar businesses, produced critically acclaimed documentaries and an Emmy-winning TV show, invested millions in real estate, and semi-retired aged 43.Now, he’s sharing a lifetime of fiscal know-how via Play Louder, an invaluable resource helping individuals and business owners increase their net worth, plus plan better for their future.Joe and his family love to travel. Whether it’s house-swapping or buying a property in Belize – which, incidentally, he turned a decent profit on. Check out some of Play Louder’s most popular content…The Financial Planning Process: Your Route to Financial Independence!How to Incorporate Yourself to Save Money (and Protect Your Assets)How to Make Your Money Work for You: 7 Modern Methods for Investing in “The Market”Top 5 Personal Bookkeeping Software Options: Personal Capital vs Mint vs Quicken vs Money Dance vs CountaboutFundrise vs DiversyFund vs CrowdStreet: The Best Sites for Crowdfunded Real Estate InvestingAcorns vs Robinhood vs Webull vs M1 Finance: Which One is the Best?Play Louder's free courses…Get a grip on your finances with Personal Budgeting Basics!Learn how to Incorporate Your Business to protect your assets and save money!Analyze your Real Estate Investments like a pro! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Quick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice at this link.Guest Links:CrowdSpring.comLinkedIn @rosskimbarovsky/Twitter @rosskimbarovskyrosskimbarovsky.comAbout Ross Kimbarovsky…Ross is the founder and CEO at Crowdspring, which provides creative services for creative projects. The platform has in the region of 220,000+ creatives helping 60,000+ agencies, businesses, startups, and nonprofits. Their specialty? Creative prowess across high-quality custom logos, web and graphic design, product design, and more.In addition to founding a slew of startups (including a Startup Studio), Ross loves to read (incidentally, he’s co-penned some books himself ) and cycling (clocking up approximately 9,000 miles every year). When he’s not innovating, reading, or astride a saddle, he enjoys tennis, fly fishing, and hiking! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Quick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice at this link.Guest Links:seilertucker.comTwitter @MSeilerTuckerLinkedIn @michelleseilerFaceBook @michelletuckerinternationalAbout Michelle Seiler Tucker...Michelle Seiler Tucker is the Founder and CEO of Seiler Tucker Incorporated. One of three women in the U.S. holding an M&AMI (Mergers & Acquisitions Master Intermediary) title, she is a 20-year veteran in the M&A industry.Michelle and her firm have a remarkable track record when it comes to buying, selling, fixing, and growing businesses in almost every vertical. Not only has she facilitated thousands of businesses to reach their dream exit, she also helps them get ready for a sale, optimizing their operations, their profitability, and really preparing everything that needs to be true, to get the best possible exit price.When Michelle isn’t helping entrepreneurs sell their businesses, she’s hanging out with her daughter. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Quick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice at this link.Guest Links:BenAston.comTheDigitalProjectManager.com (podcast, membership, coaching, training courses, and more)twitter.com/thedigitalpminstagram.com/thedigitalpmAbout Ben Aston...Armed with an x386 PC and a 33k dial-up modem, Ben launched his first (terrible) website, aged 14. Needless to say, he was hooked. Now, he is a digital project manager, online entrepreneur, and founder of Black + White Zebra, an indie media company on a mission to help people and organizations succeed.Ben is also founder of the largest and one of the fastest-growing communities for digital project managers – TheDigitalProjectManager.comA PRINCE2 Practitioner and Certified Scrum Master, Ben has 15+ years experience in project delivery and PMO leadership at top agencies – including Dare, Wunderman, DDB, plus clients including Honda, Unilever, & Sony.When he’s not working, you can find him running, swimming, on a ski hill, or flying planes! You’re not going to want to miss this one! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Quick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice at this link.Guest Links:twitter.com/cmaxwfacebook.com/charlesmaxwoodpodcastplaybook.comdevchat.tvAbout Charles Wood:Charles Max Wood is the CEO and podcast host at Devchat.tv – a podcast network for software developers, which reaches over 70,000 every week. Podcasting since 2008, Charles has done over 3,100 podcast episodes across 25+ shows.He’s the instructor at the Podcast Playbook, providing step-by-step procedures to producing podcasts – while growing your business.As if that weren’t enough, Charles also casts on Video Games, Songwriting, Harry Potter, and Star Wars, which he produces with four of his five kids. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Quick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice at this link.Guest Links:LinkedInFacebookMike’s Official SiteMike’s Dichotomy PodcastDent.GlobalAbout Mike Reid:In addition to co-authoring Key Person of Influence, Mike co-founded Dent Global. Dent is a business accelerator company known for helping founders of service firms to establish themselves as industry experts. By the age of 26, Mike was running highly successful large-scale promotional campaigns – contributing to Dent‘s placement at 63rd on BRW’s ‘Fast Starters’ List, 2014.Operating in 4 cities, Dent has a team of 40+ and acquired businesses in web development, video production, and publishing. This formed a full-service strategy and implementation group for established entrepreneurs. Mike is now helping lead the next wave of Dent’s expansion into Canada.Mike is originally from Australia, but now lives in Toronto because he fell for a Canadian – and Canada’s frosty peaks. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Quick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice at this link.Guest Links:LinkedInMetric.ai LinkedInMetric.ai FeaturesAbout Andrey Baskov:Andrey and his team at Metric.ai have been busy building software to analyze and plan financials for agencies and consultancies. Simply put; they take the weight of data management off your shoulders, so you focus on actual planning and decision making.In the business of saving clients literally tens of thousands of dollars in manual management labor costs, Metric.ai gives you tools to increase your profit margin and utilization, potentially recovering hundreds of thousands of dollars of missing profit.When Andrey isn’t saving clients potentially millions of dollars, he’s an avid skydiver (specifically a wingsuit enthusiast), plus he’s on the path to becoming a private pilot. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Quick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice at this link.Guest Links:LinkedInUnstack LinkedinUnstack TwitterZach’s Unstack BlogAbout Zach:Prior to becoming VP of Sales and Marketing at Unstack, Zach was a General Manager at search marketing company WordStream. In short, he’s helped thousands of agencies to improve their business and services for a vast array of clients, both big and small.When he’s not working, Zach is either golfing or heading to car shows. Soon – he’ll be hanging out with his new baby! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Quick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice at this link.Guest Links:OutsourceSchool.com/enrollTwitterLinkedInOutsourceSchool TwitterEmail: [email protected] Nathan:Nathan Hirsch is an entrepreneur plus an expert in remote hiring and eCommerce. He co-founded FreeeUp in 2015 with an initial $5,000 investment, scaled it to $12M per year in revenue, before its 2019 acquisition.Today, Nathan is co-founder of OutsourceSchool.com, a company working to educate entrepreneurs on how to effectively hire and scale with virtual assistants through in-depth courses. Additionally, Nathan is a social media personality and loves sharing advice on scaling remote businesses via a range of platforms, including the 300+ podcasts he’s appeared on.A serious baseball lover, Nathan is also partial to The Office and gaming (specifically playing Last of Us 2 on PS4). Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Quick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice at this link.Guest Links:TwitterLinkedInThoughtLeadershipLeverage.comPeter@ThoughtLeadershipLeverage.comAbout Peter:For the past two decades, Peter has helped both individuals and organizations build revenue streams through cultivating their thought leadership platforms. Additionally, he acts as a guide and advisor for increasing B2B sales of thought leadership products.His clients come from a diverse set of backgrounds and include New York Times bestselling book authors, Speakers’ Hall of Fame members, Thinkers50 Award recipients, CEOs of public and privately held companies, plus academics at prestigious institutions such as Yale, Wharton, Dartmouth, and London School of Business.Peter uses a combination of art, science, logic, focus, passion, and creativity to transform a thought leader’s ideas into a platform – and a practice. The aim? To effectively reach business leaders and executives, while serving the tools they and their organizations require. So, who exactly does he help?CEOs, business owners, and internal practice leaders looking to grow revenue, revitalize marketing, and improve customer experience through applying the principles of thought leadership.Business leaders and experts seeking to build out their ideas into a platform, so they can launch content and products to create a lasting impact in various companies around the globe.“Traditional” thought leaders who want to build or grow their practice, increase their effectiveness in content creation and marketing as well as extend their reach into existing and new clients.When Peter’s not revolutionising the realm of thought leadership, he enjoys immersing himself in a good book. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Quick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice at this link.Guest Links:TwitterLinkedInYouTube – ‘Just Ask Jody’The Sutter CompanyNew Business Ecosystem [email protected] Jody:Owner of consultancy agency, The Sutter Company, Jody advises agencies – both big and small – on how best to organize and operationalize their growth strategy. This has led to more than two decades running business development teams for various agencies, spanning a diverse list of disciplines and including such high-profile names as R/GA, OMD, Havas Media, and The VIA Agency.Jody frequently speaks at leading global industry events, including INBOUND, the ICA’s Agency Transformation Summit, The Drum’s Pitch Perfect new business conference, and is a featured instructor in the 4As Learning & Development Program. Her book, A Small Agency’s Guide to Winning New Business: 8 Steps to Winning More of the Right Kinds of Clients, is now available on Amazon.com.After chucking in ‘city life’, moving from Manhattan to the Hamptons, Jody can be found engaging in her other passions. These include sailing and open-water swimming, alongside her partner, Rudy. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Quick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice at this link.Guest Links:TwitterLinkedInPowered By SearchAudit WorkbookFree Agency Audit by DevDev’s Coaching ProgrammeAbout Dev:Founder of one of Canada’s fastest-growing agencies – Powered By Search – Dev is also the founder of Million Dollar Agency and a Professor at the Seneca College School of Marketing. In fact, you may remember him from Episode 18 of the Agency Profit Podcast.After growing Powered By Search to multi seven-figure revenue, he has shifted his focus to Coaching. Currently, he helps other agencies move towards, and beyond, the seven-figure mark by accelerating their growth.What’s so exciting about Dev is that he’s in the trenches. He knows the tactical stuff when it comes to marketing; he’s still operating Powered By Search (at a world-class level, I should add) making his Agency coaching beyond relevant. I’ll also note that he’s one of the best educators I’ve come across in this space. His ability to educate, especially in the crucial webinar space, is unparalleled. I’m just really excited to extract as much gold from his brain as possible! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Quick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice at this link.Guest Links:PodcastSpecial Parakeeto Offer including $300 of FREE processesFlowsterBright IdeasTrent’s LinkedInAbout Trent:As you may (or may not be) aware; I pride myself on delivering energetic introductions to each guest we have on APP, so it’s my absolute pleasure to give Trent the enthused-Marcel-intro-treatment, which goes a little something like this…A serial entrepreneur, husband, and father, Trent hosts the Bright Ideas Podcast. Additionally, he’s founder of Flowster; a business process improvement application used by thousands of businesses globally, and ranked 254 on the 2019 Inc 5000 of America’s Fastest-Growing Companies.When he’s not running his businesses, you can find them careering around with his family, on dirt bikes and mountain bikes. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Quick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice at this link.Guest Links:Jesse’s Official WebsiteTwitterLinkedInAbout Jesse:This is the mother of all intros… you ready? *John Cena background music optional* Jesse Tevelow is the founder and CEO of LaunchTeam – a collective of expert consultants who launch books, sites, apps, courses, events podcasts, and entire companies. He’s also a founding partner at BlockTeam Venture, which focuses on strategic investment fund blockchain, DLT, and emerging tech. To date, he’s helped clients raise over $500 million dollars in venture funding. As well as being alumni of TechStars – where he built and exited his gaming company PlayQ – Jesse also now acts as a mentor to others moving up the entrepreneurial ladder. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Quick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice at this link.Guest Links:TwitterLinkedInWordAgents.comFaceBookAbout Vince:As sole founder of Word Agents, Vince has been in the SEO and digital marketing space since 2009, managing a portfolio of SEO websites, some of which have exited. Additionally, he owns a noodle bar called Bakuta, in Lindenhurst New York. When he’s not running his businesses, you can find him playing guitar and hanging out with his family in Long Island. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Quick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice at this link.Guest Links:TwitterLinkedInFaceBookAgency Management InstituteBuild a Better Agency PodcastAgency Summit 2021About Drew:Drew McLellan has spent over 30 years in the realms of marketing and advertising, over 25 years running his own firm, and almost 10 years being head honcho at the Agency Management Institute, helping hundreds of firms run a better business.The host of one of the top podcasts in our space, Build a Better Agency, Drew has been featured among the 10 Bloggers Every Business Owner Should Read, as chronicled by the Wall Street Journal.When he’s not helping his clients, you can find him combing over baseball stats in De Moines, Iowa. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Quick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice at this link.Guest Links:LinkedInTraffic and funnels podcastFB groupAbout Chris:Chris Evans is co-founder of Traffic and Funnels, which helps high-level consultants, coaches, and experts develop lead generation machines to scale their businesses to seven figures a year. He’s also co-founder of Wealth Cap Holdings and Sales Mentor. He’s scaled his companies to over eight figures in less than five years, alongside his partner, Taylor, on just a few hours per week. When he’s not running his businesses, you can find him hanging out with his wife and four kids in North Carolina Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Quick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice at this link.Guest Links:TwitterLinkedInDavidCBaker.comThe Business of Expertise BookFinancial Management of a Marketing Firm Book2BobsPodcastAbout David:Author of several books (five, in fact) – including The Financial Management of a Marketing Firm and The Business of Expertise – you may recognize him from the countless conferences he’s spoken at, including TEDx talks.In addition to being featured in The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, USA Today, NY Times, Inc Magazine, Forbes, CBS (the list is endless), he’s worked with over 900 firms in this space.When he’s not helping experts and agencies, he’s teaching motorcycle racing at the Superbike School, Flying Planes and Helicopters around the world to shoot photography or doing custom woodworking at his home in Tennessee. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Quick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice at this link.Guest Links:TwitterLinkedInRobharr.comOverlyhuman.comSparkBox.comBureauOfDigital.comAbout Rob:Rob is the VP and Co-Founder of Sparkbox, a web design and development firm that crafts responsive websites and web applications. Here, his superpowers including overseeing operations and finance. He’s also the co-host of the Overly Human podcast.When he’s not beavering away at Sparkbox, helping others be awesome, he can be found hanging around Dayton, Ohio with his wife, their two kids, and a crazy Aussie dog. That or he’s golfing, weightlifting, or cooking meat over an open flame. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Quick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice at this link.Marcel Links:ParakeetoAgency Profit PodcastMy LinkedInParakeeto’s LinkedInTwitterAbout Me:I am co-founder and CEO of Parakeeto and fractional COO at Gold Front – a creative agency working with top tech companies in San Francisco, including Uber, Slack, and Google.In addition to being an agency profitability consultant – specializing in helping agencies get a handle on their gains – I’m also an in-demand keynote/virtual speaker and podcaster.When I’m not helping agencies make more money, I’m probably binge-watching soothing sitcoms while consuming my own weight in breakfast confections. I mean, who isn’t at this point? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Quick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice at this link.Guest Links:TwitterFacebookLinkedInducttapemarketing.com/blog/About John...John Jantsch is a marketing consultant, speaker, and author of several books, including Duct Tape Marketing; Duct Tape Selling; The Commitment Engine; SEO for Growth; and The Referral Engine.His latest book, The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur: 366 Daily Meditations to Feed Your Soul and Grow Your Business, is a daily reminder to entrepreneurs that a better you makes a better business!He doesn’t spend all his time speaking and writing books; he’s also the founder of the Duct Tape Marketing Consultant Network and has had the honor of being featured in a TEDx Talk.In his spare time, John can mostly be found outdoors enjoying nature, woodworking, and strumming his guitar. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Quick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice at this link.About Me:I am co-founder and CEO of Parakeeto and fractional COO at Gold Front – a creative agency working with top tech companies in San Francisco, including Uber, Slack, and Google.In addition to being an agency profitability consultant – specializing in helping agencies get a handle on their gains – I’m also an in-demand keynote/virtual speaker and podcaster.When I’m not helping agencies make more money, I’m either watching The Office or Parks & Rec on a loop.Want to see more from me? You can do that @…ParakeetoAgency Profit PodcastMy LinkedInParakeeto’s LinkedInTwitter Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Quick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice at this link.Guest Links:LinkedInTwitterYouTubeTrainual.comAbout Chris:Chris Ronzio is the founder and CEO of Trainual, the leading SaaS company helping fast-growing businesses automate their onboarding and training.Chris is also the host of the Process Makes Perfect podcast, author of 100 Hacks To Improve Your Business, and contributor to Inc. Magazine.On the weekends, Chris and his wife take their two kids on little adventures to lakes and hiking trails. He’s enjoyed getting out of the house with COVID going on! Did you learn anything new from this episode? If so, let us know in the comments below – we value your feedback! Our next featured expert appearing via our #APP is John Jantsch on September 16th. Meanwhile, Marcel will share more agency profitability insights on September 9th. To view our previous blogs – with Marcel and Jeremy Jackson – please make your way here… Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Parakeeto Quick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice at this link.Marcel's Quick Links:ParakeetoAgency Profit PodcastMy LinkedInParakeeto’s LinkedInTwitterAbout Me:I am co-founder and CEO of Parakeeto and fractional COO at Gold Front.In addition to being an agency profitability consultant – specializing in helping agencies get a handle on their gains – I’m also a respected keynote/virtual speaker and podcaster. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Quick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice at this link.Guest Links:LinkedInTwitterShiftLab.coAbout Jeremy:As the founder of Shift Lab, Jeremy focuses on projects that couple excellent design and technology, resulting in beautifully-designed digital products for clients as wide-ranging as Google, Comcast, Microsoft, and BreastCancer.org.Jeremy has worked in product development, UX, graphic design, and development for the web since the mid-’90s and was previously Director of Technology at Method.In his spare time, he’s allegedly a magnet enthusiast… Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

About Marcel:Marcel Petitpas is co-founder and CEO of Parakeeto.In addition to being an agency profitability consultant – specializing in helping agencies get a handle on their gains – Marcel is also a renowned keynote/virtual speaker and podcaster.Expect to see more from Marcel over the coming weeks, as he shares important insights for agency owners who want to earn more while working less. Points of Interest…There’s more information regarding each point in our blog notes beneath below.Identifying high ROI processes 2:12Four-step Flywheel Framework 3:20The Benefits of Tracking Tools 7:57Identifying High ROI ProcessesMost agencies struggle at some point with going over budget on projects and potentially working evenings and weekends due to a looming deadline.Unfortunately, things can take longer than expected. Since the deadline isn’t moving, you and your team inevitably find yourselves trying to make up time by working late or weekends. Obviously, this isn’t sustainable.There are processes to help deal with such situations, ones you could be building and optimizing, but you never seem to have time to define and implement them – or identify which ones are going to generate the highest return on investment.Well, all that is about to change! Four-Step Flywheel FrameworkI want to share with you our tried and tested Flywheel Framework which will help you identify the highest ROI investments. Its implementation will, in turn, help you protect your time – and your team’s time – as well and your profits.Then, I’m going to show you how you can embed this in your business. Over time, your team will learn how to run this process and tune your business for you – essentially making your agency self-optimizing, because it’s a feedback loop.Our four-step Flywheel Framework consists of…Capturing AssumptionsMeasuring RealityRunning MeetingsInvesting in Your Process Assumption > Measure > Meetings > Process = Profit + PredictabilityCapturing AssumptionsIrrespective of what your agency does, assumptions will be made pre-project. From ‘time and materials’ projects, to ‘flat rate’ projects; from how much time a project is going to take, to prospective external costs – blind assumption-making can seem part and parcel of a project, but it doesn’t have to be.You need to analyze IF those assumptions were correct or not. By capturing these assumptions, and ensuring there’s a consistent format to how they’re tracked, you can compare how your pre-project presumptions stack up against reality over time – horizontally. Measuring the Reality of AssumptionsWhether it’s a spreadsheet or a tool like Parakeeto, define a consistent format and methodology by which you can estimate – or capture – the assumptions about your projects.Now that you have a reference point, measure the accuracy of those assumptions. By way of example; compare your assumed costs to your actual costs; compare the time logged in your estimate against the true time spent; and so on. Then you can ascertain if there is a mismatch between your initial assumptions and the actual data. This process is simpler than it sounds – especially if you use an accounting tool, or a time tracking tool.Make sure, when tracking your time, that it’s mapping back to the original assumption because that’s the purpose of the exercise! Run Team MeetingsThe goal of these meetings is to sit down with your team to measure quantitative data. Discuss what matched up to your initial assumptions and, more importantly, what didn’t match. That’s where we’re going to surface qualitative data.For example, you might ascertain that you went over budget on design hours. Why was that? Did you assign too many designers to that task, resulting in duplicated work?In short, the objective of these meetings is to identify what is going well, what is going poorly, and what is taking a different path to what was expected! Invest in Your ProcessThe result of these captured insights include ideas on how you can overcome those things, then how best to implement them in your process backlog.This will inform you what needs to be done in order to solve these problems that we’re seeing in our data and in our meetings that will help us make more accurate assumptions over time. Over time, if you continue using the Flywheel process, you’re going to have more profit and increased predictability.In our business, profit and predictability are the holy grail of goals! While profit obviously means there’s more money in the bank for you, for your team, and for potential investments, predictability denotes less time spent working on weekends and evenings, better resource planning, more accurate timelines, etc. Simply put, predictability gives you better visibility into your business. Key Takeaway: The Benefit of Tracking ToolsTime Tracking and Cost Tracking are two of the most important pieces of data for you as a service business owner – or as an agency owner – to optimize your business.It’s about shifting your mindset regarding T

Quick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice at this link.Guest Links:Twitter @TheStrayMuseLinkedInLouderthanten.comSuperhi.comAbout Rachel:As well as being the co-founder of Louder Than Ten, Rachel is also a digital PM trainer at the company. Louder Than Ten helps digital agencies and product studios train their Project and Operations Managers to deliver healthy and profitable projects. Rachel trains tech com­pa­nies how to knock their old project man­age­ment flows upside down, by refin­ing the most valu­able steps in the process. She helps com­pa­nies under­stand what project num­bers real­ly mean, and how to turn blocks into oppor­tu­ni­ties.Her mis­sion is to trans­form the tech indus­try by train­ing dig­i­tal com­pa­nies how to give back pow­er to the peo­ple lead­ing their projects. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Quick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice at this link.Guest Links:TwitterLinkedIncontentsnare.comjimmyrose.meAgencyHighway PodcastAbout James:James (Jimmy to his pals) is the founder of Aktura Tech, ContentSnare, and the host of the Agency Highway podcast.Via his Zapier Mastery automation course, he enjoys finding and sharing ways for you to automate parts of your business so you can spend your precious time tackling things that really matter.In addition to sharing his knowledge of better processes via automation, James co-founded a tool for digital agencies to get content from their clients via ContentSnare, while Aktura builds custom software and mobile apps. One of his previous projects, SaaS application SilverSiphon, was sold to an angel investment firm based in Silicon Valley.When this Brisbanite isn’t informing people just how much “automation freaking rocks”, he can be found conversing with dogs; something he’s particularly skilled in. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

About Andy:Today, Andy is the co-founder of Postaga.com; an all-in-one SEO research platform for link building and email outreach that helps agencies and marketers build traffic and relationships.Aside from being a digital marketing professional, he is a speaker, lawyer, running enthusiast, and has enjoyed cooking up a storm for the family during Lockdown in New York.Plus, he’s officiated quite a few weddings on occasions (available for bookings!)Quick LinksThe Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice at this link. Guest LinksTwitter @andycabassoTwitter @PostagaAppLinkedIn Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

About John...As well as being Founder and CEO of Credo, John is also an independent growth marketing and SEO consultant, who’s work has been featured in publications such as The New York Times, TheNextWeb, Moz, TechCrunch, CNBC, WIRED, Entrepreneur, and many more.When he’s not beavering away at work, John’s probably spending time with wife Courtney, daughter Tatum, and dog Butterbean, or cycling the mountain ranges of Denver, Colorado!Guest LinksTwitterLinkedInYouTubegetcredo.comQuick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice at this link. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

About Keith:Keith Perhac is the founder of SegMetrics.io, a Saas company helping course authors, product creators, and self-funded businesses increase their revenue from their existing traffic.Unlike most marketers, Keith is also a developer, which facilitated his transition from DevelopYourMarketing.com to “the dark side” (AKA SaaS). This gives him an innate understanding of two key things: the marketing strategies required to grow, and how to implement said strategies for your business.Currently, his online software helps marketers and agency owners get 100% clarity on where their leads come from, how they act, and how much their marketing is really worth.In his spare time, you can find Keith buried in Dungeons & Dragons.SegMetrics.io and How it StartedLike all good software solutions, it was born from an itch that needed scratching.Keith started out as an agency owner, and had been doing funnel optimization and campaign optimization for a number of digital marketers. As his client base grew, so did the time spent on pulling the required numbers for the reporting process.“Pulling numbers is not what I got into marketing for… Understanding what to do with those numbers is why I got into marketing.”Numbers are vitally important to any business, particularly marketing, yet Keith and his colleagues were finding it to be a “huge time suck.” Being developers by nature, they committed to finding a more functional way forward.So, they built the first version internally, based on the premise of “Hey, can we drop these numbers into adatabase and then calculate them automatically?” As it turns out, you can! The Importance of Client Communication and ReportingThink about it… a client comes to work with you because they need guidance in a certain area. The more communication you have with a client, the more you can alleviate any lurking fears regarding your expertise in your field.“The number one thing I’ve found working with agencies, and things that we did internally, was to create a process. The stronger the communication process, the more confidence a client has in your agency.”Conversely, it’s worth bearing in mind that over-communication can have the opposite effect. It indicates a lack of structure and a certain malleability. When a client feels they should take control of a project, you’re in danger of losing your cache – that being your expertise.There are other pitfalls leading from that. For example, you could find yourself dealing with items that aren’t in the project scope; fixing up “little things” that need tweaking, and – as Keith attests – “suddenly, you’re a development shop instead of a marketing agency.”So, a set process is key to working well with clients from the offset. You can start this by ensuring…Every step is documented for both partiesEach step is part of a set process, showcasing how things are progressing/improvingEvery step then has a subsequent actionThis way, the client never feels in the dark, constantly wondering ‘What’s going on next?!’ Value Communication During COVID-19Right now, it’s more critical than ever to be communicating value to clients. It can actually be bad for your clients to cut you right now if you’re driving results for them, particularly online.“If you can keep revenue the same, or keep it from tanking, that’s your agency fee paid for right there. That’s the value you need to show and that’s what we try to do with our funnel optimizations.”You need to show them you’re not a cost, but an investment and a value-add, and you do that through your concise communication and reporting process.“Look, here’s what we did this last month, here’s where you would have been without us, and here’s where you are with us. We’re only taking 5% of all the improvements we’ve made; so we’re definitely worth keeping on.”Set processes creates clarity, continuously reinforcing the value the client is getting. This, in turn, creates client confidence that you’re producing results. Streamlining Your Client Communication ProcessKeeping that pertinent word in mind (value), how should agencies think about setting up a process for communicating with clients that’s going to be efficient, streamlined and not take up a ton of their time?Depending on how much the client is paying you, create a cadence of a weekly call and/or email that updates them on where the stats are.When Keith signed a new client via his first company, he would follow a set schedule – core for clients that turned out to be a good fit.“They got a packet, a list saying, ‘go do this now. Go do this, go do this. This is going to give us all the information for our kickoff call…’ Then, give them a list of everything you’re going to do in that first six weeks – because it’s a process, right?!”A simple example of such a process should go a little something like this…Schedule weekly calls to review results, plus the next steps requiredHost meetings every six weeks to discuss strategy, and roadmap for the subsequent six weeksEnsure th

Explaining Partnerprograms.ioTheir aim is ensuring that software and agencies can connect and become more successful together.The overall mission is just better partnerships; more connection, more interaction inside of the ecosystem, while optimizing communication and clarity, and therefore a faster turnaround for the client. Core Tenets of Good PartnershipsSo, what’s at the core of a partnership between a software company and an agency? According to Alex, partnerships can really help you define your operating procedures, helping you get more organized as a team… “Those partnerships can help you really streamline and optimize the services that you offer as an agency, which means higher ticket value, because customer retention is higher.” What should you be aware of in terms of how partnerships ought to be structured? Below are some pointers; there’s more info on the podcast at the 2:10 mark…Co-marketing or co-selling opportunities can help the software company enable their clientsSometimes, you may look for tools to help you run more efficiently, thus optimizing service delivery on top of back-end systemsAlways go through the partnerships funnel on a website, not the regular sign-up formFeature roadmap inclusion and early accessSeek a dedicated phone number, or support channel, for agency partners to receive priority supportRemember: referral fees are not the foundation of a successful partnership, they are generally not going to be the primary value of the partnershipFeature sets, enabling agencies to onboard new clients and build-out services on top of it – like white-labeling, client portals etc.Look for partners who have training – and systems – on how to build and sell services on top of their software Partnership Opportunities Agencies Should SeekAssuming you’re an agency looking to build out some services on top of software solution, let’s address some signals indicating a great partner you can really trust – and grow with – going forward.For instance, if you’re more of a creative agency and don’t sell services on top of tools, look for co-marketing opportunities to add value to software companies that serve the same customer as you. An example would be Wistia’s partnership with Sandwich VideoIf you’re more of a digital or marketing shop, and have a process for how you deliver value to customers, look at the funnel and process that you use consistently. Then, look for partnership opportunities at each step of said funnel or process. An example of this would be using CallRail in a PPC campaign. While you’re growing, try to stay vertical and use the partnership to increase revenue and margin; this is achieved by going deeper into a single vertical service offering – before you try to go too wide. “Tech-Enabled” and “Tech-Stacked” Partnership ServicesProductizing your services allows you to have a streamlined, scalable workflow, thus building out extremely deep relationships with your partnerships and support teams.This can develop some awesome co-marketing opportunities to reach more clients.Speed to value is key for both SaaS and agencies. Great SaaS partnerships should enable you, as an agency, to get your clients the outcome they want much faster – with higher margins and less work. The SaaS company is incentivized to help you do that, and your clients will get additional value from reaching their desired outcome faster. In some cases, you can essentially charge more for something that takes less time because the value of getting the outcome faster of high importance to your client.Some SaaS companies actually NEED agencies to scale. For example…Activation and retention are some of the most important metrics for SaaS companiesAgencies can be essential in helping clients get complex tools set-up and implemented in their workflows so they can get successful Understand that, as an agency, you can bring a lot of value to a SaaS company by helping them make their clients successful, sticking around in the long-term, and building case studies for the value of their product. How to Start Adding Partnership Services to Your BusinessHow do you start evaluating partners? Where should you go? How do you start selling this to my clients? What’s the roadmap here?!What Alex recommends you do is: look at tools you can create from those replicable stacks.For example, Alex works with a partner called The.com, an awesome new tool that allows you – in your backend – to spin up. Using a very simple editor that’s database driven, you can give a client access to the backend so they populate it with all sorts of cool stuff. “You can create these templates for lawyers, you can create these templates for real estate agents; when you have a new client, not only do you immediately load them with an amazing SEO driven website, you can add on tools and snippets on top of those websites. “ For instance, you can launch a cookie cutter website that’s optimized already, that has chat already, and uses Smith.ai. Building Recurring,

About Marcus: A recognized instructor and speaker at LinkedIn, Marcus Murphy cares deeply about the flourishing of fellow sales experts and entrepreneurs.Currently, he’s Head of Partnerships at DigitalMarketer.com, which arms its ‘insiders’ with strategic insights from industry experts, while also providing templates, tools and swipe files to help you become a better marketer.Marcus previously worked for Yelp in San Francisco, going from start-up to multi-billion dollar giant. He’s also honed his expertise at Infusionsoft as Global Partner Development Manager. There, he developed and broadened new international markets through strategic partnerships.When not at work, he’s either spending quality time with wife, Gina, and his daughters – or he’s working out!So, Why LinkedIn…? What makes LinkedIn such a unique opportunity right now? The answer to that is – basically – there are 675 million people on the platform.Additionally, organic reach across other social platforms is essentially dead, while LinkedIn still excels at this. Why? Because its algorithm loves engagement.Start having conversations on there to up your engagement, and the platform will show these posts to more people. This, in turn, motivates yet more users to get involved in your conversation.If your content is not starting the right conversations with potential connections, then it’s just noise, a distraction, a therefore a waste of your time.In short… content is King. Optimize your LinkedIn Profile to Start ConversationsThe three initial motivators for people to connect with you and your brand on LinkedIn are: your profile picture, your header image, and your byline/title. So, make them count.You have a unique opportunity in your profile photo right away. If possible, invest $50 in the headshot. Do it 60% of the frame against a clean background.More importantly, Marcus says…“Make sure you’re not Catfishing people with your 1989 headshot… It’s tough to have integrity built and trust built into that.”If potential connections see your photo and what you have positioned yourself as – plus, if you ask a question in your ‘Summary‘ – then there’s your conversation starter.Always remember…Everything on your profile should be driven to start conversationsGet a good professional headshot that takes up 60% of the frameOptimize your headline to start a conversation – and be specificUse your Summary to hook the visitor; sell your story, share what you’re about / what your mission isPut a call to action in your Summary, invite people to join your journey If you do those things, then you’re better prepared to be part of the massive growth that’s happening on LinkedIn right now. Personal LinkedIn Profile and Brand Page RelationshipChances are, if you’re an agency owner on LinkedIn, you have both a personal profile and a business page. Now, how can you actually leverage and create momentum by using both? As Marcus says…“You gotta have a business page, you have to have a showcase page, and you have to have a website as a business – because everybody wants to see that you are who you say you are. They want to have those integrity pieces and something to anchor to.”Below is a strategy behind utilizing those assets together.Use your business page as the anchorThe business page is designed to inform what your business is aboutPost content and updates, but don’t expect it to drive organic growthPay to boost content that is doing well organicallyYour personal page will drive the growth of your business pageYour personal page should be used to generate ‘reach’, while your business page will provide conversion (i.e. website visits) and build buyer confidence.Optimizing Content for Organic Reach on LinkedInLet’s talk core strategies to consider when trying to optimize the content you’re posting on LinkedIn to obtain organic reach / drive results.Every piece of content Marcus generates is put through the lens of who Digital Marketer is as an organization. You need to create a ‘Character Diamond’ highlighting what your agency excels at, and then what balances that. Or, to put it another way…“No one would like Superman if there was no Kryptonite and he wasn’t a nerd – because none of us can fly, and we’d think he’s an asshole – ‘Oh, he’s flying again, well, screw that guy!’ We are marketing savants at Digital Marketer, but we are also highly irreverent and that’s a good balance; it helps people to go ‘Oh, these guys are really smart – but they’re human beings’.”In order to optimize your content for organic reach on LinkedIn, and therefore boost your ‘connections’ above 500 and beyond…Be authentic with your content; don’t be too staunch on LinkedInBuild a Character Diamond for yourself and your personal brandAsk yourself how your content can start conversations…Comments trump ‘likes’, and are heavily weighed in organic reachResponding to comments is tremendously importantConsistency and quality content is keyEngage and comment on posts written by people who have a big follo

By way of background; LifterLMS encompasses the needs of modern membership course creators, allowing you to create an integrated membership site.Chances are, you have a productized service option lurking within your current agency resources; this could be launched quickly, thus opening up a new, easier revenue source.About Chris:A natural and authentic teacher, Chris uses his innate ability to hone every business he’s started or mentored. Creating a Learning Management System for WordPress, he helps online course creators launch, and scale. The LifterLMS community includes agencies who build learning management systems, membership sites, and courses for clients.When he’s not working in his cabin, or homeschooling his kids, you can find Chris on his organic farm spending time in nature, and wowing his family with magic tricks.Points of Interest...Maintaining cash-flow to fund products 3:35Sustaining your product over time 6:34Deciding when to start productizing services 10:04Measuring the impact 11:38Tips for agencies transitioning to productized services 12:07 Maintaining Cash-flow to Fund Products Once you’ve built out your SaaS product, complete with making the often necessary concessions on profit, there are other ways to maintain cash flow.For example, Chris has a knack at talent scouting; investing in someone who may be less experienced, but has the potential to become a leader if given the opportunity to grow while making mistakes. This is the foundation of an economical team engine.Additional ways to maintain cash-flow as discussed by Chris include…Move up-market, ensuring good payment termsGet used to pre-selling and receiving cash upfrontLive below your means where possible, ensuring you survive any dips Sustaining Your ProductIt’s one thing transitioning from an agency to a software company, but – once there – how can you (frankly) survive that transition and ease some of the cash-flow constraints?In short, it’s worth reminding yourself (often) that moving to productizing services is a “process not an event”. As it happens, this is a mantra Chris uses frequently…“I say that about a lot of different things, but transitioning from an agency to a software company was definitely a multi-year process, not an event – like, it happened on Tuesday on this date…”Therefore, it’s necessary to get good at scoping projects and forecasting cash-flow.Based on his experience in delivering high-end, custom web dev solutions for membership sites, Chris also challenged himself to create and productize, while “using mostly our tool, plus some templated sites, with limited customization”, that still delivered ALL the value and a medium price point. Deciding When to Start Productizing ServicesGiven price points vary across the board, your productized service is likely going to be the customer. Bear in mind, the ideal customer or client is going to have different attributes than your custom high-end work.Five years ago, Chris’s process included some of the below…Firstly, he considered how to improve upon scope control, plus drive-up marginsThen, he experimented for a yearHe learned that clients for productized services are going to be very different to high-end clients, with “productized services, sort of a halfway point between agency and product”He also referenced the work of Brian Castle (generally considered a leader in terms of creating productized services out of an agency) and Mandi Ellefson, the mind behind the Hands-Off CEO programme Measuring The ImpactRealizing he was a product person and packaging services that way made sense, it aided a shift in thinking from services to the product – on the way to SaaS.“When you really get clear on productized service offerings, you don’t have to put your best people on it.”Indeed, productized services don’t tend to require a number of high-talent staff. You may need their help to develop the templates, processes and to brainstorm, but in a standard operating procedures way of implementation, resulting in value for the client that feels customized and bespoke.Additionally, Chris was able to price on value and create great margins, plus he realised productized services brought far less stress.Regarding the resulting data and reporting, plus profitability, gross margin, and PR from the product; there was a lot of iteration to get to Product/Market fit. Oh, and margins flipped from 20% to 80%… Result. Tips for Transitioning to Productized ServicesSo, if you’re reading this at home – with a few ideas ruminating and therefore “product curious” – here are some points to consider if you’re pondering a similar move.Do a deep dive into your soulGet better at running a profitable agency so you can afford to invest in the productFigure out how you’re going to bridge that gapBe open to challenging your assumptions about what the product is, versus what it needs to beThat’s the key to unlocking value in a really good offer; don’t get too attached to your assumptions, instead help your

In Episode 31, Jennifer and Marcel address three potential time traps: superfluous meetings, email distraction, and issues around functional silos.Buckle up as we do a deep dive on making communication more efficient; how to map processes so they work optimally; plus how to implement them so they become part of your agency’s long-term process.About Jennifer Kikkert:Jennifer is a seasoned process facilitator and energizing public speaker, with 15 years of experience in process improvement and optimization, culture change, and operational excellence.Having spent 12 years working in the public sector, and then transitioning to the private sector, Jen has a wealth of experience in knowledge and service industries – where processes are hard to visualise. Hence the birth of her company Visualiiz Management Consulting Inc, which helps organizations ‘see’ opportunities for improvement that often go unnoticed. Points of interest…Below are some notable time stamps you can fast track to. There’s more information in our blog notes beneath the video.Principle of time efficient meetings 10:46Defining SLA around communication 15:22Utilizing your least productive time 22:16Cross function process mapping 24:27Common mistakes made when writing processes 28:08Implementing process mapping within your business 37:38 Principles of Time Efficient MeetingsOver the last decade, Jennifer has noticed a similar pattern emerging across the knowledge, services, manufacturing industries she’s worked with… inefficient meetings.By way of example; Harvard Business Review recently revealed that – in the last 10 years – meetings have increased by 65%. In short, some people favour talking over doing.To this point, Jennifer gets her clients to visualise the following scenario: “What if you had to run your meeting like the NBA or the NFL in a 62nd time out? What if you only had 60 seconds to get your point across, to have everyone discuss the issue, to come up with a solution, and have everyone to know exactly what they need to do, and then go back to work… Would you be able to do it?”So, what is the checklist to ensure more time efficient meetings?Do not run a meeting without an agendaMeetings should only be held to answer questions, not define questionsUpdate meetings should be omittedAsk meeting attendees not to bring phones; firstly, they won’t be distracted by their devices, secondly, they will be more inclined wrap a meeting efficiently to return to their phones!Use 5-10 minute (virtual) huddles at the start and/or end of each day, this can eliminate the need for a lot of additional meetings We don’t need everyone to sit for two hours and have everyone “go around the room.” It’s not a good use of people’s time. Time is our number one resource. Defining SLA Around CommunicationDuring our chat, Jennifer mentions that the “majority of workers check their email 77 times a day” and “can spend up to two-and-a-half hours just reading and sorting through email.” Sadly, the likelihood of this time adding any value to the client’s end product is limited.People are literally drowning in their inbox, however, there are proven strategies to help. The most notable one is simply “turn off all notifications.” Those who constantly succumb to the pinging and buzzing claim they’re “multitasking”. One could argue they’re not doing anything very efficiently because of continuous distraction.Every interruption leads to a loss of production, with it taking “seven-to-15-minutes to get back to where you were.” By disabling notifications, you control when you see your email, not the other way around.If possible, give yourself set times to check mail, ideally three times a day. For example, Jennifer tends to her inbox at 8:30am in the morning, then 11:45am, and lastly 4pm before the usual COB. You can give anyone emailing you a heads up by stating in your signature that your inbox is checked at these specific times. That way, you’re setting expectations. Within your organization, have an SLA around communication:Let those in the channel know when to expect a responseDefine what is an acceptable response time; within 12, 24, 48 hours?Have an escalation process in place if something is importantTime is precious, so people shouldn’t feel obligated to be at the behest of every communication channel fighting for our attention. Utilizing Your Least Productive TimeIn his book The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, author Dan Pink states the two most unproductive hours of your entire day occur between 2pm and 4pm.Research shows that productivity, mental alertness and judgement lags at this time, so important work between those hours should be avoided. If you have the luxury of choice, perhaps use those hours to catch up on those emails! Cross Function Process MappingMost organizations evolve over time. Due to vertical silos, all of our deadlines and priorities are also vertical. However, work generally flows horizontally.This can potentially lead to the following issues:

About Marcel:Marcel Petitpas is co-founder and CEO of Parakeeto. Indeed you do recognize him from The Agency Profit Podcast!In addition to being an agency profitability consultant – specializing in helping agencies get a handle on their gains – Marcel is also a renowned keynote/virtual speaker and podcaster. Time Stamps: points of interest• Intro 0:00• Behind The Agency Profit Podcast 3:35• Focusing on the numbers 6:37• Where should your focus be right now? 9:42• Implementing and utilizing changes 10:55• Identifying goals 13:27• Importance of both internal and billable time 16:17• Cost performance indexing 18:57• Increasing efficiency and profitability 22:15• Helpful tools! 25:00• Outro 30:30 Blog: Today’s episode of the Agency Profit Podcast is a bit different for you guys. Since we’re living in very uncertain times due to COVID-19, I decided to pause the usual podcast (on't worry; we've content in the can for the next few months!) and personally address how this outbreak impacts our lives – as well as all the agencies and businesses out there. Whether you're an agency that had an office and had to send everybody home, or you were already a remote agency, this is probably impacting you and/or your clients. I want to discuss some of the things I've addressed with our clients in the midst of this COVID-19 crisis. There are three really particular opportunities that exist around this situation, especially if you're in a position where you’re having to make a lot of changes to the way that your team operates. First, I want to talk about how to increase your focus on numbers; the opportunity to implement new changes in your agency; and how to make your business more efficient. Behind The Agency Profit Podcast Before we dive into the things, I want to share a few things: I am an agency profitability consultant, specializing in helping agencies essentially get a handle on their basic numbers. Most of our income as a company has been from consulting revenue, public speaking, appearing on other people's podcasts and speaking in virtual events. If you’re an avid listener to our bi-monthly APP, you probably know I always have a guest on the show to discuss how they've honed their business into a profitable agency and tackled potential pitfalls along the way. Focussing on the Numbers If you've been a frequent listener of the Agency Profit Podcast, you know the topic of increasing number focus is a hot topic. The three key foundations of the economic model of an agency are capacity, utilization, and average billable rates. • Capacity is defined as the amount of time your team could contribute towards doing billable work in any given time period. It’s determined by how many people you have access to on your team – from, freelancers or contractors – as well as how much of that time you expect them to work. This can quantify it in terms of dollars using an average billable rate. Essentially, if I know I've got 10,000 hours of billable time this year which I can sell, then that's good. You must invest time to earn revenue. It’s important to know what your capacity is and how much revenue you could potentially earn in a given time period. • Utilization is how much time your agency actually uses for things that result in payment from clients. This is the true and straightforward definition of the term. We'll discuss how there are a couple of different definitions of utilization that get used in the industry, and how to best use those with your team to avoid complications. • Average bill rate is basically every hour that my team invests working on projects for the agency or their client/s. When you have a really good handle on capacity, utilization, and average bill rate, it's easy to start modeling things such as: What are our best clients or services?How much revenue could we potentially earn in a given time period?What kind of revenue are we looking to earn in the future? Always remember; as an agency, the moment you sell a project, you have to start earning the revenue as there's already a gap due to liability. Interestingly, a lot of agency owners forget about this principle. Then, there's the cost of earning revenue; where you have to invest time and resources to earn said revenue. As much as possible, you must shorten that latency of when you close the revenue (when contract or bookings happened), and when you actually earn the revenue. You want to decrease that cost as much as possible. This should be the objective of your operational model when it comes to delivery. Gross profit or gross margin, for most people, is going to be a bit more challenging to follow accurately. Depending on how your systems are set up, generally you're going to want to do that via accounting software, or by spreadsheets. However, undertaking this exactly is usually more expensive than tracking the average bill rate, which is a super simple number to pinpoint. Where Should Your Focus be Right Now?Well, your focus really should be on utilizat

About Keith:Keith Scandone is co-founder and CEO of O3 World, a 15-year-old Digital Product Agency. Additionally, he’s co-founder of O3 Ventures – a spin-off of O3 World dedicated to investing in, and partnering with, existing Digital Product companies, aiding them to accelerate their businesses.As well as being a busy go-getter, Keith is co-founder of the Forge Conference, a 300 person UX and Design seminar. If that wasn’t enough, he’s co-founder of 1682; an invite-only Business of Innovation Conference, which they hosted this year. Wait, there’s more!Last, but certainly not least, he co-founded the Philadelphia chapter of the Awesome Foundation, and has sat on countless boards and committees, most notably the Philadelphia Global Identity Project, helping Philadelphia's global position.Time Stamps: points of interest• Intro 0:00• Keith’s unorthodox beginnings 2:43• O3 World’s business culture and their services 7:00• Identifying and overcoming the agency ‘growing pains’ 12:00• Importance of managing cash-flow 16:20• Knowing your strengths 19:27• Understanding the competition 24:05• Decision making plus executing strategic changes 30:01• Scaling your agency 35:12• Outro 47:22Blog:Keith Scandone is proof you don’t need a degree to start a string of businesses. A successful partner of O3 World and co-founder of 1682, Keith shares his humble start; the many challenges the ’08 recession brought the company; and how they overcame it. Most importantly, he pinpoints how to understand your company’s strong points while building a niche market.Before Keith found business success, acting was his passion. He was cast in a play while attending Loyola University, Maryland, and was swiftly bitten by ‘the bug', resulting in a move to Los Angeles. However, after seven years in showbiz, Keith realized he preferred working behind the scenes. Packing his bags once more, he headed to Philadelphia, whereupon he was hired as a marketing consultant for an online entertainment city guide. His soon-to-be business partners were freelancing at the same company…While their employers weren’t keen on working for bigger clients, Keith and Co knew they could do more. Spotting a gap in the market regarding client expansion, he and his partners set up O3 World 15 years ago, and haven’t looked back.Being involved in a tech-related industry means having to adapt to a continuously changing environment – a challenge for any tech agency owner. Humbled by his company’s tenacity, Keith reflects on how some of the businesses he used to aspire to no longer exist.O3 World’s Business Culture and ServicesO3 World currently has in the region of 50 full-time in-house employees, with Keith saying the company’s culture and collaborative nature plays a massive role in producing quality work. With innovation at its core, O3 World adapts to new technological changes and career opportunities.Constantly pushes boundaries with regards to new business and opportunities, Keith and his team ensure they’re astride their game when providing their range of services, including…• Brand Communications• Identity Development• API Development• Custom Integration• Account Strategy• Digital Content StrategyA go-getting and detail-oriented office culture is important, with Keith saying: “We don’t really like working project to project. We want to have more impact and influence on the work that we do…”It’s well documented that acquiring new clients tends to be more expensive than retaining existing ones (unless, of course, you’ve been letting 'scope creep' kill your margins that entire time).Another important consideration is that a mix of long-term or recurring income is critical to bolstering an agency’s valuation, and creating a strong foundation for cash-flow long-term. So, how are you going to extend the relationship with a new client once the project is over? Great question! Keith says you should reach out to your current client/s to consult with them on their future needs.With this in mind, O3 World honed an account strategy layer, selling on to clients, which turned out to be a successful venture.Identifying and Overcoming ‘Growing Pains’Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts in life. I can’t think of an agency that hasn’t encountered challenges. In fact, facing difficulties in your business is normal – the result actually depends on how you handle these issues. In Keith’s case, his biggest challenge was going through a recession.He recalls 2008 and 2009 as one of the toughest periods in his career – when he almost went out of business. Like many business owners at the time, he remembers sitting down with his partners, looking at each other, and having no idea how they were going to make payroll.It’s tough enough building a business, but it’s obviously more challenging during a global recession. Not only will there be difficulty in finding new investors or clients, but it’s also tough risking whatever money you may have in your business.Luckily, while one of Keith’s part

About Chip:Chip Griffin is dubbed as “The Agency Whisper” in the industry. He’s the host of the Agency Leadership Podcast and Chats with Chip and helps PR and marketing agencies reach their goals and increase their efficiency. Chip became the CEO of Townhall.com when he was in his early twenties. And since that time he has built and sold several companies, both in tech, and he started and sold several agencies and consultancies. Today he spends his time educating, coaching, consulting, and speaking to agency owners on how to run and scale their agencies. Want to see more of Chip? Follow him online:ChipGriffin.comChip’s LinkedInChip’s TwitterChip’s InstagramThe Agency Biz PodcastsResourcesThe Agency BizThe Agency Leadership AdvisorsChipGriffin.comChip’s LinkedInGuide to Agency Project BudgetingAgency Business CheckupThe Agency Biz PodcastsLink to project budgeting template Timestamps:Intro 0:00How did Chip go from Building and Selling Businesses to Coaching Businesses? 3:28How to Properly Scope Projects and Create your Budgets 6:04When Should an Agency Evaluate the Cost Aspect of a Project 8:35Scoping and creating accurate budgets inside your agency? 11:59Expenses that Agencies Must Watch Out For 13:57Contingency Reserves Based on People’s Risk 14:52How to Reduce the Amount of Scope Creep Once the Projects Gets Underway 24:08Gross Profit Margin Target for Agencies 25:11Core Principles to Remember in Managing Relationship with a Client 36:55Outro 44:21How to Scope Projects & Protect Profits with Chip Griffin - Episode 28The foundation of running a successful agency lies in charging more money to clients than it takes for us to deliver outcomes to them. Ideally, we’re consistently achieving 50-70% gross margins on projects, which sets us up to have reasonable overhead and continue to cash-flow our growth.Unfortunately, we’ve all found ourselves losing our shirts and in some cases even spending money to work with a client. Most often, the culprit is a combination of poor scoping and scope creep leading to a dumpster fire of a project that leaves us with lots of work to do and very little profit to show for it.For some of us, this still happens more often than we’d like to admit.That’s why I decided to invite my friend Chip Griffin onto the show to share his knowledge and experiences in scoping projects and protecting profits. He didn’t disappoint, as he broke down what he’s learned from years of running and scaling his own agencies to multiple exits, and helping clients do the same.How to Properly Scope Projects and Create Your BudgetsThere are a lot of factors that play in when properly scoping projects and creating budgets. It’s a complex process that often requires some analytical savvy.According to Chip “The agency community is filled with really creative people who are fantastic at client service, but a lot of them just don't have a lot of business experience.”It comes as no surprise that many of the agencies I speak to have a difficult time getting a handle on scoping, and spend most of their careers feeling like they’ve never found a reliable way to do it accurately.When it comes to getting a handle on estimate, Chip states that agency owners must create a project plan with their clients that will be beneficial for both parties. From billing clients based on an hourly rate, flat-rate pricing, or value-based pricing; there are a lot more factors that you, as an agency owner must take into consideration. So it becomes increasingly important to get really good at figuring out how much or how long will it take to deliver the project with our desired outcome to our clients while making sure to stay within the budget and submitting them on-time. This means tracking actuals against estimates over time to feed that information back to whatever supporting data/documents you might use to create estimates in the first place.With that being said is it important to answer these questions before signing a contract to a client:How long will this project take?Do I need to hire new people?How much will all these expenses cost?Have we done this kind of work before? How much uncertainty exists around what the client is asking of us?What’s our gut-feel on the client, and how demanding they might become?Do I need to travel to meet up with my clients or remote employees?Are we importing assets / materials from the client?Will I be able to deliver and accomplish my clients’ expectations?What type of billing method is most beneficial for my agency and the client?etc.Being thorough in the discovery process and really assessing the risk of a project is key in establishing the right level of contingency and padding in your estimation.Chip is also a big fan of doing paid discovery, giving you the ability to get compensated for the time it takes to properly assess your client’s needs. Project Budgeting for Accurate ProfitabilityIf you want an overall profitable business, you need to sit down and take note of all the expenses and oth

About Chris Hervocohon:Chris Hervochon is often referred to as the Michael Jordan of accounting. A graduate from Elon University with a degree in Accounting and minor in Finance. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in South Carolina and Pennsylvania, and also holds the Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA) certification. A Certified QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor, and have earned the Data Analytics Executive Certificate from the AICPA.In 2018, he was one of only 41 CPAs honored by the AICPA as a member of the Leadership Academy’s tenth graduating class. In 2019, I was named as one of CPA Practice Advisor's "40 Under 40" in the accounting profession.He started his firm called Better Way CPA, where he helps creative, digital marketing agencies, and service-based businesses with intelligent, actionable accounting.Follow Chris Online:WebsiteFacebookInstagramChris’ TwitterYouTube ChannelResources:From Freelancer to Agency Ebook WayfinderAbout PageMy YouTube ChannelTimestamps:Intro 0:00Who is Chris 01:00How Chris Started in the Service Business Industry 2:20What Makes Accounting Service Businesses Unique 4:48Why is it Important for Agencies to Have a Clean Accounting Data 8:58Common Mistakes Agencies Commit in Terms of Accounting 10:04Why Service Businesses Must Use Accrual Basis 13:53Revenue Recognition for Accrual Accounting 17:25Benefits of Cloud-Based Accounting 19:48Cash Reserves for Agency’s Survival 22:30The Right Corporate Entity for Your Business 28:10Biggest Problem for Service Agencies’ Chart of Accounts 30:35Freelancers Vs. Full-Time Employees 35:00Allocating Your Salaries 39:48Gross Profit Vs. Net Profit 41:50Maximizing Profit: Pricing and Operating Perspective 45:50Outro 50:00 Often, we base an agency’s success on its profitability. However, we tend to forget the financial aspect of things. And, why agencies need to understand the importance of accounting. And so there's just so many things that I want to talk to you about. And, I want you to ask yourselves why you chose to run or work on a service business.And according to Chris Hervechon:“Marketing agencies are a lot like accounting firms. How they operate. It’s a different service. Sure, it’s more creative, generally speaking. But they’re both service-based businesses.”What Makes Accounting for Service Businesses UniqueAccording to Chris Hervochon, there’s a lot of agency owners that do not realize that running a service business when it comes to accounting, which is very different than almost every other service business.And, its main difference happens above the margin. So your margin is your gross revenue minus all the variable costs that go into generating that gross revenue.If you think about a retail store that tends to have lower margins, your gross revenue is gonna be all the stuff that you sell. Let’s say you sold a television for $850, then that’s already your gross revenue. If it cost you $500 to buy the television, including taxes and licenses, then your gross profit is $350.On the other hand, service-based businesses tend to have higher margins. There is not much variable cost going into generating the revenue. It is solely based on human capital, on the amount of effort agency owners and their employees put into to generate profits.Why is it Important for Agencies to Have a Clean Accounting Data?The entire purpose of accounting is so that you can ask questions about your business and get accurate and reliable answers.According to Chris, you must ask yourselves these questions while also knowing how to answer them to see whether your business/es are properly tracked and documented:Is this project profitable?Is this service profitable?Is this niche profitable?What are the fixed expenses?Where can I cut costs to be more profitable?What's too expensive?What's not expensive enough?Am I spending enough or too much on my marketing?Through these questions, you will be able to know your agency’s trajectory and what to expect.Common Mistakes Agencies Commit in Terms of AccountingYou will be surprised at how agencies commit the same mistakes.Let's start with how often you sit down with your accountant. Agency owners are usually the creative type who is good at marketing and promotion. However, it is important that you, as an agency owner know to hire someone who has proven knowledge in accounting.Not having organized and systematic documentation of your expenses and revenue. Make sure that you keep track of the inflows and outflows of your money.They did not start using the accrual basis. From an accrual accounting perspective. I've got somebody who comes and goes. My clients come every week on a Monday, we hope, but they come every week nonetheless. That's a real base accounting. It's matching the activity with the expense of the revenue when it happened.Why Service Businesses Must Use Accrual BasisLooking at things on an accrual basis is certainly a change for a lot of people, especially small businesses. But it's something that you need to

About Erik: Erik Huberman is the Founder & CEO of Hawke Media, a full-service Outsourced CMO based in Santa Monica, CA that launched in 2014 and has been valued at $80 million. In just 5 years, Hawke Media has grown from 7 to over 120 employees and has serviced 400+ brands including Raden, BeautyCon, The Ridge Wallet, Buscemi, Red Bull, Evite, Verizon Wireless, HP. Want to See More of Erik? Follow him Online:Hawke Media WebsiteErik’s LinkedInErik’s InstagramErik’s TwitterErik’s FacebookTime Stamps:Useful insights and questions from this episode:Introduction 0:00Who is Erik Huberman? 2:12Starting Hawke Media 3:01Challenges in Growing an Agency 4:17How Important is Understanding the Cash Flow of Your Agency 8:05Figuring Out Your Business Goals 10:43How to Increase the Value of Your Agency 12:23How to Know the Right Time to Offer More Services to Your Clients 16:38Process of Adding New Services to the Agency 18:06How to Manage Employee’s Capacity 19:24Ensuring Your Team’s Well-Being 21:27Different Tools and Systems to Ensure the Performance of Your Business 23:02Convenient Automated Profitability Software 24:29What are the Important Core Metrics in an Agency 26:12Advice to Start-Up Agency Owners 28:14Blog: Hawke Media is one of the Top 20 Most Promising Digital Marketing Solution Providers in 2017 and was named at the Top Inc 5,000 fastest growing companies in 2017 as well. Hawke Media has worked with over 400+ brands including Evite, Red Bull, Verizon, HP. Today, Hawke Media continuously provides exceptional marketing services to the business owner along with their team of top tier experts that helps the different aspects of a business.Erik began consulting and advising and it was organic when he started an agency. He first sought out help, hired people, until it grew into an agency with over 170 people and is continuously growing up to this day. Understanding a niche that is completely under-served and needed help drove Erik into building the agency that is now Hawke Media.Despite being offered to sell the company quite a few times, Erik liked the idea of continuing. He loves the idea of working with different companies, helping entrepreneurs, and most importantly he is truly passionate about what he does. What are the Challenges in Growing an Agency? It’s not always smooth sailing when it comes to running an agency. And, according to Erik, here are the challenges he faced while growing his company:People are volatile and emotional. People have different personalities, wants, goals, and needs. Even though their payroll is similar to their monthly revenue five years ago, there are times where they get thin on cash wherein it took a while to catch up with the revenue to make money for the team.He also shared a challenging experience when they had a $400,000 payroll and $800,000 for a month while having only $13,000 in the bank. Entrepreneurs also said that it could happen again so he better get ready for his business. “That is very rare that you when you're growing a business like this and you don't have a ton of outside funding and you're not publicly traded, you’ll have so much cash that you're never gonna get thin.”Erik added, “Don't just let your money sit on the bank, invest it.”How Important is Understanding the Cash Flow of Your AgencyThe very first model Erik used to start his business was paying the flat base salary then giving 30% of what they get paid by the clients.On the next batch of talented individuals he hired, Erik said that they followed the same payroll model of which they give 30% of what they made in addition to their agreed flat rate. Erik found out that his employees are reactive. Erik added that they also looked at their amount of expenses on their first year to see how much they spent on overhead, advertisements, payroll, etc. He had a profit of 40% in the first year and from then, he knew it wasn’t sustainable. And, from the data which they have gathered, Erik and his team decided to change their business model, and see which works best for them.Figuring Our Your Business GoalsThe team experienced hitting their benchmark early so they had to find ways to maintain it. Erik's original plan was to get into 10 million in revenue. He didn't have a grandiose plan and now he has a multinational, multi-billion-dollar company plan.According to Erik, “I had a very clear path to 10 million, very clear what was going to take. In my head. We're going to do it. It's going to take four years. And that's what happened. And then two years, almost two years ago, we hit it.”It is really important to be objective, innovative, and realistic when you’re still figuring out your goals for your business. It’s not enough to conceptualize, and you have to actually put your time and effort into it. How to Increase the Value of Your AgencyLuckily, Erik is married to a person who is in private equity. His partner gives him constructive advice on how he can make his business more profitable. Now, here are the ways

About This Episode: In this episode, Clodagh Higgins, a digital agency director, consultant, coach, and the author of A Happy & Healthy Digital Agency joined us to share her knowledge and experience as an ex-Hubspotter who has worked with 500+ agencies around the world. We get into why agencies must build and scale company culture, useful tips and techniques to hiring the right people, and how to retain talented employees in the long run.About Clodagh: Clodagh S.Higgins is a Digital Agency Director, Consultant & Coach with the Growit Group based in Ireland and works globally. An ex-HubSpotter, she has worked with over 500+ agencies around the world, helping them in the areas of sales, marketing, services, scaling and growth in their businesses so that they can deliver exceptional results for their clients.From working in Hubspot, she is now an agency coach and Consultant that has owned her own digital agency for 8+ years in Sydney & Dublin. She is also the author of A Happy & Healthy Digital Agency and hosts a weekly podcast, interviewing agency owners about the highs and lows of running a professional services business, Agency Life.Clodagh believes that agency owners can have a profitable business of their dreams, with an expert team that is happy, while getting great results for their clients.When Clodagh is not helping agencies you will find her training for Powerlifting competitions and she has a World Record in Strict Curl and a National Record in Bench Press. She lives in the West of Ireland in her retreat in progress called Isleen Cottage. Want to See More of Clodagh? Follow her Online:Growit Group’s WebsiteGrowit Group’s InstagramGrowit Group’s LinkedInClodagh’s WebsiteClodagh’s InstagramClodagh’s LinkedInClodagh’s Facebook PageYouTube: Agency LifePodcast: Agency LifeBook: A Happy & Healthy Digital AgencyEmail: [email protected] Resources:Traction by Geno WickmanAgency Life PodcastAgency Life YouTube ChannelA Happy & Healthy Digital Agency by Clodagh Higgins Time Stamps:You can now repeat or jump to parts with ease!Introduction 1:09Who is Clodagh Higgins? 2:55Challenges Agencies Face 6:24Building and Scaling Company Culture 10:22How to Attract High-Quality Talent 16:21Hiring the Right Talent 21:31Interview Techniques and Strategy 22:26Onboarding New Employees the Right Way 28:17How to Retain a Talent in the Long Run 32:51Giving Up Control, Empowering Leaders, and Building Trust Inside Your Team 41:16Conclusion/Outro 45:07Blog: Running a profitable agency is no easy task. There are no shortage of challenges when it comes to managing projects, maintaining profitability, getting results for clients, closing deals and managing clients. But one challenge shared by all agencies is the complexity of managing their team. As my friend Rob likes to say “The best part about our businesses is that they’re made up of people. The worst part about our businesses, is that they’re made up of people” Why? Because people are unpredictable. Each person has their needs, wants, and capabilities. Let’s dive in and learn about the biggest challenges agencies face. How to scale company culture, how to hire, empower and retain employees in the long run. Entrepreneur’s Mindset vs. Their Employees’Now, I’m not going to take sides or tell you that the other one’s better than the other. The truth is, entrepreneurs and their talents have a different way of thinking. This causes struggles for the agency. Entrepreneurs are risk-takers. They work day in and day out, they’re usually not concerned with having a future nor structure. When entrepreneurs see that their idea isn’t working for their favor or they lose interest in a project, they often ditch the project and move on to the next one.The same cannot be said about employees. They often want to know details about their job. From their job description, company culture, and compensation. With that being said, employees prefer to have a structure. Why? It reassures their stability, they want to know whether they can take vacations or work from home. Employees want to start a project, work on it, and finish it. Entrepreneurs need employees to have a successful business. While employees do not need entrepreneurs since they can go get a job at the bank.According to Clodagh, when an employee decides to work for you they’re eager to learn more about you and your company. They believe in your vision and mission. And they find your company’s dynamic exciting because it's different. Without a proper business structure, policies, or training, you’ll run into scaling and retention problems over time.This is why it’s best to communicate both you and your employees’ needs, ideas, and expectations. To be able to move forward, collaborate, and work on your common goals. How to Avoid Idea FatigueIdea fatigue? Is that even a thing? Well, yes. I’m looking at you, Mr./Mrs. CEO! As entrepreneurs we’re often ready to move on to the next big idea before the last one has been fully implemented. Of

About This Episode:In this episode of The Agency Profit Podcast, we invited Troy Wruck, GM of Services at Vendasta to discuss how he runs and scales one of the fastest-growing white-label service teams in Canada. We talk about people, processes, metrics, scaling and everything in between. You won’t want to miss this episode.About Troy Wruck:Troy Wruck is the General Manager of Marketing Services at Vendasta, where he leads a large team of digital agents who provide social media, website creation, digital advertising, and other services in English and French to thousands of businesses worldwide.He has a successful track record in accounting, sales, marketing, and leadership, and has worked in a variety of organizations over his two-and-a-half decade career – from non-profit groups to small businesses, and enterprise companies. He has served in a variety of operational and management positions with Toastmasters International and worked closely with Tourism Saskatoon as a member of their National Strategic Advisory Committee.Follow Troy Online:Vendasta’s WebsiteTroy’s LinkedInTroy’s TwitterTimestampsValuable Insights and Questions from this Episode:Introduction - 0:08What is Vendasa? - 2:20The Importance of Excellent Whitelabel Delivery Team - 4:00Creating and Documenting Services/Processes - 5:55Keeping a Small and Effective Team - 8:32Ensuring the Team and Processes are Up-to-Date - 9:25How Does Process Improvements Work? - 12:00How to Add New Services Successfully - 14:42Ensuring Your Team’s Quality of Work - 18:32Scaling and Managing Your Team - 27:11Hiring Process - 31:00Creating Trust Within Your Team and Letting Go of Control - 34:00Importance of Reporting and Data - 39:34Conclusion/Outro - 42:55Blog:They say starting an agency is hard. While that is certainly true, most agency owners can attest that growing an agency is much harder.While a growing agency means getting more clients, it also means having to deal with more work, as well as more workers. For some agencies, this is where plateaus are hit, and progress stops. At times, scaling too fast can even be the reason things fall apart. For those that are prepared and/or are flexible enough to scale and adapt, they start to achieve the elusive feeling of “scaling” their service business.That’s why we invited Troy Wruck onto the show. Troy Wruck oversees marketing services at Vendasta and is scaling one of the largest and fastest-growing whitelabel services teams in the country.I’ve always known that scaling a white-label shop, even focused on just a single service offering (ie: facebook ads) requires operational excellence. When I found out Troy was doing it across multiple services, in multiple languages for clients of all different shapes and sizes; I knew I had to bring him on the show to see how he was doing it.The Secrets to a Successful AgencyBeing witness to the rise and fall of multiple agencies (and the success of Vendasta), we asked Troy about the qualities of successful agencies and what makes them different from those who failed.According to Troy, it all boils down to being able to offer what your customer needs. As an agency, it should be your goal to understand the pains and goals of your customers. You should be able to create a service for that customer that addresses all those points. Also, it helps if you accept the fact that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to service and that every customer will have different needs.He also added that one of the secrets to Vendasta’s success was that they veered away from hiring generalists. He explained that while generalists, on paper, are great hires - they often become the reason why businesses can’t scale properly. This is because generalists tend to spread themselves too thin doing multiple things at the same time. If you want to grow as an agency, it should be your goal to hire and/or develop experts. This ensures that you have one or a team of individuals who are good at what they do and that you can trust them enough to create excellent output.Another thing that Troy mentioned which caught my attention was that keeping your teams small helps as well. This makes them manageable and allows enough flexibility while still being able to provide consistent output. The number will vary depending on the roles, but generally Troy recommends having no more than 8 direct reports per manager or team lead.How to Improve Your BusinessImproving one’s business is crucial, not only to earn profits. But, to have a structured and ever-developing business process to deliver consistent results and services to our clients. How do You Expand Your Service Offerings Profitably?Let's assume you have your first few clients and you see that business is doing good. You’re thinking about expanding and adding a few more services to your agency. This is a very exciting phase in a growing business but for many agencies, this becomes a slippery slope that starts causing “delivery indigestion.” Since Vendasta has succ