Agency Advantage - Actionable advice to help digital agency owners, consultants, and freelancers be more successful

Today, on Hubstaff’s Agency Advantage Podcast, I’m talking with Jason Blumer of Blumer and Associates, who shares how you can leverage your agency’s most valuable resource, your time.

Jason is a CPA who provides his clients, agency owners, with bookkeeping services, but that doesn’t begin to cover all of the ways Jason and his team can help turn creative business owners into mature business owners.

In our chat, we cover everything from why bookkeeping should be seen as an investment to when you can afford to hire an employee, and while he shares some great tactical advice, it is hard to generalize the advice across all agencies. So Jason covers how you should think about these decisions so that you can choose the paths that make the most sense for your agency.

Ultimately though, you won’t be able to focus on these decisions if you’re stuck in the day-to-day of running your business, so Jason shares his strategies for helping agency owners focus on what really matters and get the most from their limited time.

If your business is growing, but you don’t feel like your processes have matured at the same pace, then this is the episode for you.

Today, on Hubstaff’s Agency Advantage Podcast, I’m talking with Greg Verdino of VERDINO & CO, the consultancy he started with his wife to help clients get the attention, engagement, and outcomes they need by giving their audiences content they’ll crave. Today he shares how content marketing is evolving and how your agency can stay ahead of the curve.

Typically on the podcast I focus on the business side of things, how to get clients, streamline your processes, that sort of thing, but today we get a bit more into the nuts and bolts of content marketing for your clients, as well as your agency.

I wanted to take this approach because as more and more agencies start offering content and inbound marketing services, it seems like many are simply trying to check the box of “Do we have an active blog?” without thinking about the end goal.

Greg shares why this approach to content marketing isn’t effective, why content needs to be at the core of the entire company, how this changes the agency/client relationship, and what this looks like in practice.

If your clients aren’t getting the results they are looking for from content, or even if you aren’t getting those results for your agency, then this is the episode for you.

So without further ado, here’s Greg!

Today, on Hubstaff’s Agency Advantage Podcast, I’m talking with Justin McGill of LeadFuze who shares why he left behind a $360,000 a year service business to go all-in on a product.

Justin launched his first agency back in 2008 and built it into a 7-figure agency. Along the way he had his first idea for a software product. Thinking it was his million-dollar idea, he poured 10 months and $60,000 in development to launch the product, but the launch fell flat.

For his second startup, he wanted to do things the right way, and that’s how LeadFuze came about. LeadFuze started as a productized service agency that eventually released software tools for users who wanted to take a do-it-yourself approach. Business was going great, but Justin knew he needed more focus, so when the service side was doing $30k a month, he decided to shut it down and go all-in on the software, even though that side was only making $6k a month.

Since then, Justin has had his share of ups and downs, but today the business is bigger than before and the growth doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.

In our interview, Justin shares why he decided to shut down the profitable service business, the difference between selling software and selling services, and how agency owners can make the transition into products.

If you’re drawn to the software business like so many agency owners but need help finding the balance between your clients and your new project, then this is the episode for you.

Today, on Hubstaff’s Agency Advantage Podcast, I’m talking with Michael Gass of Fueling New Business who shares how to use content marketing to get more leads in just 30 days.

Since 2007, Michael has pioneered the use of social media, content, and inbound marketing strategies to help agencies win new business, and he has taught those strategies to over 200 agencies in all 50 states and 21 countries

If there is one thing I hear again and again from agency owners, it’s that they simply don’t have the time to build an active content marketing strategy. Today, Michael makes the case for why it’s crucial that you find the time to make content a priority and shares his framework for how you can get started and generate leads in 30 days.

If you’re skeptical of the value of content marketing for your agency or worry it will take too long to get results, this is the episode for you.

Josh Steimle’s agency, MWI, was slowly killing him-- he had no life, was in massive debt, and wasn’t making any money. He went four years without collecting a paycheck, all while putting in 80-100 hour weeks.

Today, he shares how he was able to turn things around and build a profitable, growing agency by finding two different types of partners: first, somebody to help run the business; second, somebody with a platform he can leverage to grow his authority.

It wasn’t an easy process, but Josh lays out everything you need to know to find the right people and platforms to help you grow your business.

Whether you’re considering shutting down your agency or you’re making money hand over fist, there is a lot to learn from today’s chat.

Today, on Hubstaff’s Agency Advantage Podcast, I’ve got Johnathan Dane of KlientBoost back for a fun and informative chat.

I last had Johnathan on this podcast back in May of 2016, where he shared the story of how he and his team grew KlientBoost to over $100k/mo in recurring billing in the first year, all while maintaining 60% margins.

If that’s not impressive enough, since then, KlientBoost has tripled to over $300k in recurring billings. They didn’t get here by discovering some new growth. Instead they kept that momentum going by doubling down on what works, namely content marketing.

Today we talk about how Johnathan has built a brand in the competitive PPC space by using content marketing, the insanely ambitious content series his team put out over the holidays and how it is paying off, and how he has handled the growing pains at KlientBoost.

Johnathan has an endless supply of energy, a wealth of knowledge, and knows how to build a successful agency in a hurry, and today he holds nothing back. His last interview was one of the most listened to interviews of this show. He said he wanted to top it this time, and I think we succeeded.

Blair is a 25-year veteran of the business side of the creative professions and has over 30,000 hours invested in the question, "How do creative firms win new business without giving away work for free?" He shares the philosophy behind his answer in his book, The Win Without Pitching Manifesto, and if you haven’t checked that out yet, you should.

That being said, today we are going to be less philosophical and more tactical as Blair shares these practical rules that if followed will, simply put, make your agency more money. Not only does he share the rules, but we discuss where most agencies mess up and how you can get started turning things around.

If you’re tired of clients expecting you to give away your best ideas for free, then this is the episode for you.

Derek tells us how he tooks his struggling web design business to new heights by narrowing his focus. Instead of building sites for anybody and everybody, now he specializes in creating awesome websites for professional speakers.

While today he has dramatically increased his rates and brought balance back into his life, the journey of niching down wasn’t always easy.

In this interview, Derek shares the struggles he had as a generalist, why niching down was the answer, his fears going into it, how he developed a true expertise, and how it has completely transformed his business.

I’ve talked to a few other guests about the benefits of niching down, but this interview is different in that you get to hear the unfiltered ups and downs of the transformation and get advice from somebody who has gone through the transformation themselves.

If you’re tired of getting beat up on price and feel like the client holds all of the power, then this is the episode for you.

In this episode, I’m talking with Jake Jorgovan of Outbound Creative. I had Jake on the podcast almost a year ago. At that time he was focused primarily on using “eye catching outreach” like messages in a bottle or hollowed-out books to help his clients close deals. He was also ramping up his team.

Since then, Jake has taken stock of what he actually wants to get out of his agency, scaled down his team, and refocused his offering. Today, Outbound Creative helps consulting clients win their dream clients through personalized outreach campaigns. And what used to be a team of 12 is now a team of two.

Today, Jake shares how to decide what your real goals for your agency are, the system to help you achieve it, and how he is implementing it himself. If you’ve been focused on growth at all costs with your agency business without taking time to reflect, this is the episode for you.

In this episode of Agency Advantage, Karl Sakas of Sakas and Company talks about how you can improve your management expertise as a leader inside an agency.

At Sakas and Company, Karl helps agencies grow without the usual pains. By working with dozens of agencies, he has learned that you don’t need to be a great manager to start an agency, but you need to become one if you don’t want everyone to quit.

Because becoming a great manager is hard, Karl put together a pocket guide called “Made to Lead”. It streamlines the process of becoming a more effective manager for those leading marketing and creative teams inside agencies.