Trailblazer FM: WordPress without the drama

Being intentional with social media allows you to build your brand. In turn you can build trust, and generate valuable leads for your agency. In this episode I will share with you the basics of planning your social media strategy... Full show notes: https://agencytrailblazer.com/planning-your-agency-social-media-strategy See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

There comes a point in your agency when enough is enough. You cannot do everything and you realise you need outside help from a freelancer or virtual assistant. The thing is, you've heard horror stories from other agency owners and your last freelance experience was a nightmare. How do you find, select and onboard the right contractor for your agency? If you are struggling, this episode is for you. Full show notes: https://agencytrailblazer.com/how-to-hire-a-virtual-assistant/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Do you know what is in your bank account, who owes you what, and what you have to pay out? It's likely you don't as running an agency is time intensive and demanding. Finances become something we dread at the end of our financial year as we hand over a box of receipts to our accountants, unsure if we will be able to pay our tax bills. It need not be like that. In today's episode I am going to talk you through a very simple framework for managing the financial health of your business. Full show notes: https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/managing-your-agency-finances/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How do you keep motivated when things can be so stressful? Running an agency can be high pressure, and you may have experienced those days where you can't face it all. I know I have... Full show notes: https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/how-to-keep-yourself-motivated/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How many plans have you made that you've never followed through with? What would you like to change in your agency or in your personal life that seems too overwhelming and un-achievable? I have struggled for years with procrastination, and have a graveyard of abandoned dreams behind me. Yet all that changed a few years ago, and I'm going to share with my strategy for getting things done. Full show notes: https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/how-to-get-the-big-things-done/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

"Plan for the worst, hope for the best" is a phrase I've often heard from family members as we go through life. There is no better place to ensure you can push through the rough times that in your business. What would happen if your office burnt down? What would you do in the case of a business partner passing away? Full show notes: https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/planning-for-the-worst/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

So much business can be lost due to not handling leads effectively. With multiple channels of communication, and such unique needs, what can you implement to keep on top of, and to nurture the leads you get in? Full show notes: https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/how-to-manage-leads/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Being a business owner, or part of a business design agency can be tough. I remember how lonely I would often feel battling the day to day challenges with no one else to talk to. In this weeks episode we share how to get plugged into the online community to create a support network. Full show notes: https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/getting-plugged-into-online-community See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Running your agency without a plan, you are inadvertently planning to fail. We learned the hard way many years ago. The purpose of this episode is to provide you the framework for a simple one page business plan that you can review regularly. Full show notes here - https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/the-one-page-business-plan/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How do you get more productive and create a healthier happier lifestyle? Who better to brainstorm this with than my good friend James Rose. We’ve known each other many years and he’s been able to balance business with travel, family and developing hobbies. We talk ways to improve productivity and to enhance our lifestyles. Full show notes here - https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/productivity-with-purpose/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Profitability is not just about selling more. We are so often a slave to our business because we need to generate more income to get more free time. It’s a vicious cycle. In today’s call I share a range of money saving techniques both for your business and personal life. These are what we apply to our lives so we can: Get lots of time together as a familyOperate a stable businessSave for the future Full show notes here - https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/money-saving-techniques/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Networking helped build our agencies and is an essential element of our ongoing marketing strategy. If you are a new or established business, you should consider your own strategy for generating leads through networking. We cover: Different types of networkingMeeting stylesHelp othersHelp others help youReality check Outcome: To help you develop a clear long term networking strategy to help support your marketing efforts. Full show notes here - https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/generating-leads-from-networking/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Without a website specification document you are running the risk of a big fall out with your client. Everyone needs to agree on what will be built, the timeline and the cost. Without these projects can often breakdown or become unprofitable. The problem is, creating a specification document is super boring, and it's difficult to make sure you've covered everything. We flip the script today, and Andre from Project Huddle interviews Lee on their unique premium website specification service that turns a boring document into a fun story that everyone can get involved with. Full show notes here - https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/the-fun-way-to-build-a-website-specification-document/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

For many agency owners, Christmas a stressful time of year. Potential clients are gearing up for Christmas, projects are on hold or non existent and they still have staff to page. Rob shares with us both what to do if you need clients right now, and also how to avoid this situation in the future. Full show notes: https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/i-need-clients-now-what-do-i-do/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We are pivoting and I want to tell you all about it. I’ll give you some background, share our experiences and unpack what we plan to do throughout 2020. I will share our hopes and ambitions for the community and how you can get involved. Here’s to 2020. Full show notes here - https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/big-changes-are-coming/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How can you leverage content marketing for your agency when you can’t even get started? In this episode, Martin and I unpack the blockers to your creativity and strategies to overcome them. Learn how to come up with ideas for content and use our creation hacks to get your content strategy in place. Full show notes here - https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/overcoming-the-content-block/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Adrian, having worked with Infusionsoft for several years recognised a gap in the market for small to medium businesses who needed marketing automation but could not access it. Systems were very pricey and complex to integrate into their websites so he launched a brand new WordPress plugin. This became Groundhogg which brought the features of marketing automation platforms into peoples WordPress websites. In this episode he shares his journey and how launched and evolved. Full show notes here - https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/launching-a-new-wordpress-plugin/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Many agencies avoid settling on a niche as they feel they will miss out on projects. Meet Brad and Emily from GoWP who share their niching journey from local full service agency to WordPress support company. They have niched, then niched down further, creating a profitable and growing business that promotes a good work life blend. There is a lot we can learn from their journey. Full show notes here - https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/niche-till-it-works/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Feast or famine is experienced often by the hard working agency owner. How can we can we change this model and create a business based on recurring income whilst providing the same services? This is not a podcast about selling support packages but instead creating a business based on your expertise, and creating real value for your clients. An interview that blew Lee's mind, so it is one not to be missed! Full show notes here - https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/how-to-beat-feast-or-famine/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Facebook groups are an amazing place for agency owners to build up relationships, learn and give back. They are also the potential source of distraction if we engage with certain characters. In this episode, Nick shares his experiences in Facebook groups and they key types of people, posts and conversations to avoid to help protect your time and your mental health. Full show notes here - https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/what-to-avoid-in-facebook-groups/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How do you take a vacation as a business owner when there is so much pressure and perhaps you are even strapped for cash? Taking a vacation can seem like a pipe dream to the agency owner who feels they can never truly take a break. In this week’s episode we share the core message from our premium group call from last week. Full show notes available here - https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/how-to-take-a-vacation-even-if-youre-broke/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Funnels are so often abused, yet if done right, they can help us to develop lasting business relationships. In this episode Matt deep dives into the anatomy of a funnel and what the essential ingredients are. I have so often shared my own frustration with funnels that go in for the sell and can feel manipulative. (Check out one of my recent rants on YouTube). Based on this, I give Matt a hard time asking him to help me understand how funnels can be of benefit, and how they can help both the prospect and our own business. Full show notes here - https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/the-anatomy-of-a-funnel/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Trading time for money may be our comfort zone as an agency owner but it is likely holding us back, trapping us in our business and not even doing your clients any favours either! In this weeks episode we talk with Rob Da Costa who shares the concept of VALUE based pricing and answers standard objections Lee hears in the community about it. Full show notes here - https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/unpacking-value-based-pricing/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Running your business alone is a hard slog. I know because I’ve done it. Even if you have business partners or a team, you are still IN your business day to day with all of the internal and external influences that might be affecting decisions, productivity and success. Full show notes here - https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/you-probably-need-a-business-coach/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Now and again a guest comes along who shatters my bubble and changes my mind. This happened in this episode with Pete Everitt. Full disclosure: I have created HUGE amounts of content for 4 years and invested hardly any time into SEO just assuming that the sheer volume would take care of it. I have never been so wrong! In fact as I have been unpacking the advice from Pete's course, I've discovered that we are performing terribly for our target audience in the search engines and we have to make some changes if we are going to help those we so passionately want to serve. In today's episode, Pete shares the basic fundamentals of kicking of your SEO strategy and trust me, its a good one! Full show notes here - https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/how-lee-screwed-up-the-podcast-seo/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We need to be having frank conversations. With so much noise, with so many courses, with so many “experts”, with so much social media…. how can an agency owner catch a break and reconnect with reality? In today’s episode I share some of the frank conversations we’ve had on YouTube that I think this industry needs to have. Let’s cut through all the crap out there and help build an industry that values family, mental health, work life balance and healthier lifestyles. Full show notes here - https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/its-time-to-be-frank/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How do you give your agency brand a personality? How do you motivate your team, and get everyone on the same page? Ahsan shares how the huge cloud hosting brand Cloudways have managed to communicate their brand and their values to both their customers and internal team. Full show notes here - https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/what-are-your-agency-values?/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Agency life can frankly be boring, repetitive and stressful. Being an agency owner can be demanding, exhausting and discouraging. How do you stay motiviated and galvanise the team around you? In this episode Lee drops motivation wisdom from our new YouTube series. Full show notes here - https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/how-to-motivate-your-agency/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Many agencies go through multiple iterations of their website, never quite happy with what they have produced. We know this because we are guilty of this, and a huge percentage of our community are forever apologising for their own websites. Are you happy with your agency website? Have you gone through multiple versions and are STILL not happy? Today I share reasons why you probably are not happy with what you’ve produced. Full show notes here: https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/stop-redesigning-your-agency-website/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

What is your brand voice and message? If you don’t know then neither to your potential clients. What helps you stand out from a crowded market place is a clear message that engages your ideal client. Your messaging needs to appeal, have a hook and promote a response. In this episode is share the main ingredients for developing your brand voice, and understanding what you should be talking about. Full show notes here - https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/how-to-establish-your-brand-message/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Do you feel like a failure? Is your agency not where you feel it should be? In this episode I share how we dealt with both failure and the feelings of failure in our agency. Be prepared to grab a notebook and to pause this episode at the appropriate moments because I want you to take some action today! Full show notes here - https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/you-are-not-a-failure/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

What your agency looks like today is likely nothing like you thought it would be. Equally you may be wondering how to start making necessary changes in your business to allow you to grow the team, or free up more of your time. In today’s episode we learn how Tim launched his agency, how he grew the team, and where he found it best to focus on their strengths with the industry they served. Yet another episode where we can learn from the journeys of others who’ve demonstrated the power of process, niching and excellence. Full show notes here - https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/launching-niching-and-growing-an-agency See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Your agency need not be a cookie cutter clone of what others think an agency should be. You can truly create something unique that will serve your target market and your own plans too. Today we meet Jordan Johnson who changed his entire business model to focus on unlimited WordPress support for agency owners through the brand RipplePop. Full show notes here - https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/how-to-exceed-expectations/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sales strategies are effective when converting leads, and extreme sales techniques are often applied in times of low income in an agency life to help an agency survive. A long term marketing strategy however helps you build your brand, and ATTRACT targeted and warmed up leads to you on a regular basis. Full show notes: https://agencytrailblazer.com/general/marketing-activities-for-agencies/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Communicating on any project can be hard work. Project management tools are designed to help teams communicate, yet can often be off-putting to your less tech minded clients. Your inbox may be full of emails and nested conversations. Your task lists may be full of poorly described issues. Feeling it? We’ve certainly had this battle for many years. Given, we’ve grown better at supporting our clients in learning how to give more effective feedback but what if there was a way that we could make it a no brainer? Full show notes - https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/how-to-communicate-with-clients/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

18+ hour days and weekends can be common place in agency life. How do you create a business that promotes a healthy balanced life? Erin shares her story of how she’s been able to build a business that allows her to enjoy the natural beauty of her surroundings, whilst running two successful businesses. Full show notes - https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/building-a-balanced-agency-life/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Starting an agency can be a challenge. How do you connect with local businesses, generate leads, build a portfolio and grow? These are questions Gareth Carr found the answer to as grew his passion into a business in a new country. Yes, not content with the challenges of launching a business alone, he took on the challenge of doing this on the other side of the planet having moved to Australia from the UK. Things went really well for Gareth and he eventually developed a very successful niche. Highly recommended listen as he has a great journey. Fast forward to today… He has just moved back to the UK and is about to do it all over again! Full show notes: https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/how-to-show-up-and-be-seen/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Web build and design is not often thought of as glamorous or exciting. In the real world it can be a long process taking weeks, if not months. By the end of the project everyone is glad to get the site live and move on. Full show notes - https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/how-to-create-a-buyer-experience/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Are you stuck in your business, struggling to focus on doing the things you love? Meet Shane Rielly, who has evolved his business over the years. He was stuck with low paying, high demand clients and has been on an awesome journey developing his agency. Full show notes - https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/how-to-make-agency-life-enjoyable/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Usually at the very last moment in a project your client suddenly says: “What about the privacy policy”. If you recognise that and can relate to the stress of getting your client to provide legal documentation, or you are left trying to put one together, then this episode is for you. Full show notes - https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/finding-the-right-privacy-policy/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Every journey is different. This week we jump into the time machine with Colleen Gratzer as she tells us her story. Her agency has evolved since 2003 and over the last few years she’s been deep diving into accessibility. She blows Lee’s mind with all the things he hadn’t even thought of in regards to accessibility as well as the user experience beyond the user interface. Thankfully she throws in hope by sharing the details of her upcoming accessibility course! Phew! Full show notes here - https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/unpacking-accessibility/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Pricing your projects or working out your hourly rate need not be complicated. In this episode I walk you through how to calculate both a reasonable and logical hourly rate and use that to price your projects and set achievable financial targets. Full show notes: https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/how-to-work-out-your-hourly-rate/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In October 2018 we finally decided to go for our dream of launching an event in the agency space. In this episode I share how planned and launched our event along with the lessons we learned along the way. Full show notes: https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/how-to-launch-a-niche-event/ ‎ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How do you grow an agency, and create an exit plan that allows you to retire? Many agencies grow to a point where the founder becomes the bottleneck, the blocker to growth and the reason the they cannot move on from what they created. Feeling trapped? Looking for a growth and exit strategy? This episode is for you. Full show notes: https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/how-to-exit-your-agency/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

It’s the age old agency problem. You work hard to win the project, and then you are all hands on deck for delivery. In the meantime the sales pipeline gets neglected and before long there is too much month at the end of the money. As a result, you and your team begin scrambling for new business and become less and less fussy about what projects you undertake. Like a black hole, this cycle feels impossible to escape as it sucks you in. Full show notes available here: https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/how-to-beat-feast-and-famine/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Today we talk with Oliver who shares how his web agency began to develop solutions to help keep their client websites maintained and secure. As their service developed they realised it was time to pivot away from design/web builds and WebArx Security was born. Full show notes available here: https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/how-to-pivot-your-agency/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Agency owners often dream of the perfect PR that generates 100s of leads and yet reality never quite meets expectations. How do you generate great PR for your agency that attracts the right sort of leads? Full show notes available here: https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/how-to-get-more-exposure/ --- OUR EVENT: Do you want to make real change in your business? Join us at our in-person event Agency Transformation Live Meet Troy Dean; Lee Jackson, Chris Ducker, Kelly Baader, Amy Woods, Paul Lacey, Dave Foy and other legends in this fantastic conference focused on actionable steps that you can use to transform your agency. --- See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Chris Ducker is a serial entrepreneur who has worked his way up as an entrepreneur working 14 hour days 6 days a week to become a virtual CEO. Chris has also written a book on becoming the go- to leader in your industry and build a future proof business. Not only is Chris an author he also runs the YouPreneur podcast where he introduces his audience to some of the top online business minds, as well as fellow personal brand entrepreneurs from around the world. Full show notes available here: https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/speaker-profile-the-business-of-you/ --- OUR EVENT: Do you want to make real change in your business? Join us at our in-person event Agency Transformation Live Meet Troy Dean; Lee Jackson, Chris Ducker, Kelly Baader, Amy Woods, Paul Lacey, Dave Foy and other legends in this fantastic conference focused on actionable steps that you can use to transform your agency. --- See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Kelly Baader is a renowned Digital Sales and Marketing Strategist, Certified Business Coach, Mentor to emerging Christian entrepreneurs, Host of Christian CEO Podcast, author of an Amazon bestseller – A Little Girl Called Grace, and the founder of The Christian CEO University. From a humble background, Kelly had to overcome insurmountable odds since her childhood to achieve the success she enjoys today. That includes surviving from sexual abuse at her teens for over a decade, overcoming cultural male-male-dominated corporate career (such as no ladies room built in at Executive Floor), to countless objections in the entrepreneurial journey because of her non-non-English accent. Full show notes available here: https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/speaker-profile-dare-to-serve/ --- OUR EVENT: Do you want to make real change in your business? Join us at our in-person event Agency Transformation Live Meet Troy Dean; Lee Jackson, Chris Ducker, Kelly Baader, Amy Woods, Paul Lacey, Dave Foy and other legends in this fantastic conference focused on actionable steps that you can use to transform your agency. --- See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Are your current marketing strategies failing you? Do you even have a marketing strategy? (Hey, I’m often winging it folks). Today Michelle Hunter shares how we can create a marketing plan for our services. Expect zero “buzz words”, instead easy to understand explanations, advice and actions. Full show notes available here: https://agencytrailblazer.com/podcast/how-to-market-your-services/ --- OUR EVENT: Do you want to make real change in your business? Join us at our in-person event Agency Transformation Live Meet Troy Dean; Lee Jackson, Chris Ducker, Kelly Baader, Amy Woods, Paul Lacey, Dave Foy and other legends in this fantastic conference focused on actionable steps that you can use to transform your agency. --- See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.