Agency Journey

"Small groups of highly skilled, highly motivated, well communicating people can just achieve more than you can at a large organization."

Jesse Resnick, co-founder of Ei Digital, a full-service digital agency, was our recent guest on Agency Journey.

This episode is a must-listen for agency owners and managers looking to build a high-performing team culture.

Episode Insights:

💡 Jesse's journey from working in larger agencies to establishing EI Digital.

💡 The journey of EI Digital from a modest start to a full-service agency

💡 How EI Digital's pod-based team structure enhances efficiency and client service

💡 Jesse's perspective on the intersection of brand and performance marketing in the digital age

💡 Strategies for nurturing and developing talent within a digital agency

💡 Utilizing strategic vision to maintain a high-quality user experience while scaling

💡 The importance of EBITDA and other financial metrics in agency decision-making

Resources Mentioned:

📚 Ei Digital: https://eidigital.com/

📚 Jesse’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesseresnick/ 

📚 Principles by Ray Dalio: Jesse's recommended reading for agency principles

📚 Accrual Accounting: Understanding its importance in agency operations

👉 Don’t forget to follow and rate us on your preferred podcast platforms. We’re also on YouTube: @ZenPilot

Is your agency prepared for the cookieless future that threatens to “tank” advertising performance?

Paris Childress, CEO of SaaS-focused performance marketing agency Hop Online, was our recent guest on Agency Journey.

He shared insights on crafting first-party data strategies that can help agencies avoid disrupted campaigns when third party cookies expire.

Paris also discussed expanding service offerings with data science capabilities; making use of new privacy-focused technologies like his AI platform pLTV; specific and actionable personal branding tips; and optimizing operations with tools like ClickUp.

Tune in if you want to ensure your agency has a plan to preserve ROI as the digital advertising landscape evolves.

Episode Insights:

💡 Why third party cookie loss will cause ad performance to “tank”

💡 The pressing need for agencies to focus on first-party data strategies

💡 Why agencies should start expanding into data science capabilities

💡 How Paris’ pLTV platform leverages AI to predict customer lifetime value

💡 Successfully Hop Online’s entire CRM over to ClickUp

💡 The importance of personal branding for agency leadership

💡 Hiring data scientists as a key recommendation for agencies

Resources Mentioned:

📚 Paris’s agency: https://hop.online/

📚 pLTV – Paris’ Predictive Lifetime Value platform: https://www.pltv.ai/

📚 ClickUp as a CRM! Watch our full bonus video with Paris about this here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdgpnC63az0

If your agency is unprepared for the major privacy shifts underway, don't miss exploring Paris’ actionable insights around optimizing for the cookieless future.

Want to take your agency to the next level? Learn how Matthew leveraged EOS, strategic partnerships, and custom ecommerce solutions to optimize operations and expand offerings over 9 years in business. His proven strategies can help your agency demonstrate ROI and pave the path to sustainable growth.

Matthew McIver shares his journey evolving Commence Studio from a service-based creative agency into a productized business selling themes on Shopify.

Learn how EOS and Traction shaped their growth, why they partner with larger firms, and how custom ecommerce sites demonstrate clearer ROI for clients.

Matthew also explains how virtual tools like Float enable better financial visibility and why you should standardize systems instead of reinventing the wheel.

Tune in for a transparent peek behind the scenes at an agency optimizing their operations and expanding their offerings over 9 years in business.

Episode Insights:

💡 Implementing EOS framework for meeting cadences, planning, and clearer roles

💡 Transitioning from service-based revenue to product-based revenue with a Shopify theme

💡 Leveraging expertise into products/services others can use

💡 Partnering with larger agencies to provide specialized services

💡 Using custom Shopify themes over off-the-shelf themes to showcase branded experiences

💡 Proving ROI for clients easier with ecommerce sites vs. B2B sites

💡 Embracing a "collaboration over competition" mindset with agency partners

💡 Learning from other successful service firms to constantly improve your own customer experience

Resources Mentioned:

📚 Matthew’s agency: https://commence.studio/

📚 EOS (Entrepreneurs' Operating System)

📚 Traction by Gino Wickman

📚 The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

📚 Float app for cash flow forecasting

📚 Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO)

📚 Shopify Partners

If you're a creative agency looking to expand your offerings or prove ROI for clients, don't miss this episode.

👉 Don’t forget to follow and rate us on your preferred podcast platforms. We’re also on YouTube: @ZenPilot

Running a professional services agency? You need compelling case studies to close sales. But most video case studies end up dry, boring, and forgettable.

So how do you create video case studies that captivate prospects and accelerate deals?

In this episode of Agency Journey, host Gray MacKenzie interviews Ian Garlic, founder of Video Case Story. Ian shares his proven process for producing video case studies that get results. He also talks about writing a book, starting a partnership program, and much more.

Episode Insights:

💡 Why emotional storytelling through video builds trust and shortens sales cycles

💡 How to carve out time each week for collecting customer stories

💡 Letting customer stories guide your overall strategy and offerings

💡 Why leadership should always find time to review customer stories

💡 Crafting a compelling video script focused on the client’s journey

💡 Following a clear story framework from problem to solution

💡 Repurposing case study content across multiple channels

💡 Adopting a YouTube strategy focused on becoming an educational resource vs. chasing views

💡 Writing a book to establish yourself as a thought leader

💡 Building a tight-knit partner program community

💡 The importance of process documentation and constant improvement

Resources Mentioned:

📚 Ian's book "Video Testimonials That Land the Big Fish"

📚 Immersion by Dr. Paul J. Zak

📚 Snow Leopard by Category Pirates

Ian offers fantastic tips and frameworks any agency can apply to create video case studies that truly showcase value and drive sales.

Whether you're looking to refine your case study process or get started from scratch, this episode will get your video case studies converting.

👉 Don’t forget to follow and rate us on your preferred podcast platforms. We’re also on YouTube: @ZenPilot

Running a marketing agency is hard. Running one remotely across several time zones? Even harder.

So how do you keep a distributed team aligned, motivated, and growing together?

In this episode of Agency Journey, host Gray MacKenzie interviews Janet Mesh, CEO and co-founder of Aimtal, a fully remote marketing agency. We dig into the keys that accelerated Aimtal’s growth over the past 5 years.

Janet shares how Aimtal has doubled its team and revenue each year through an intentional focus on talent, culture, and streamlined operations.

Episode Insights:

• Implementing clear processes and documentation enabled Aimtal to effectively manage a distributed team across 7 time zones
• Hosting immersive annual retreats reconnects their remote team and aligns everyone on vision and goals
• How Aimtal structures retreats to maximize bonding and alignment
• Focusing on talent, values, and culture fit over geography gives Aimtal access to the best talent globally
• The importance of intention in building a thriving remote agency and team
• Relying on tools like Rippling to streamline operations and free up bandwidth as they scale
• Leading with transparency and vulnerability as keys to remote team success

Resources Mentioned:

• Rippling - For HR/IT management
• Guru - Knowledge base software
• TravelPerk - Travel management platform
• Anthropic - AI assistant tool

Whether you're building a remote agency or colocated team, Janet offers fantastic insights into leading with intention, investing in processes and culture, and scaling successfully.

👉 Don’t forget to follow and rate us on your preferred podcast platforms. We’re also on YouTube: @ZenPilot

Ask any agency owner and they’ll tell you—growth doesn’t happen by accident. It takes strategy, systems, and support.

So how do you choose the right blueprint to guide your agency’s growth? What if that blueprint could help you smash through plateaus and scale your team 10x?

In this episode of Agency Journey, host Gray MacKenzie interviews Tyler Dolph, CEO of Rocket Clicks. We'll dig deep into how EOS (The Entrepreneurial Operating System) helped transform Rocket Clicks into the Agency that it is today.

Episode Insights:

• How implementing EOS helped the agency establish clear roles, vision, and processes to enable growth
• Why focusing obsessively on client retention, not just sales, fueled sustainable growth
• The importance of Investing intentionally in culture like immersive onboarding and events strengthened their distributed team
• Strategies to analyzing top clients revealed their ideal target market to focus growth efforts
• AI offers opportunities to double down on human-centered strategies and relationships vs trying to compete

Resources and People Mentioned:

• Rocket Clicks Website
• EOS Website
• EOS Tools
• Traction by Gino Wickman
• John LaFontsee's LinkedIn
• John Morriss LinkedIn
• Ramsay Innovations Website (Now known as EngineBI)
• Avoma

Struggling to get your team aligned on goals and metrics? Wish your company culture was more productive and humane?

Mark Abbott, founder and CEO of Ninety, shares how and the importance to implement tools to empower employees and build a resilient organization. In this episode, Mark discusses the specifics of designing effective scorecards, setting targets vs goals, and getting team member buy-in and so much more.

Episode Insights:

• Why companies are complex adaptive systems. The best ones are explicit, coherent and resonant with all stakeholders.
• What mastery means being able to teach it to others - true understanding goes deeper than just reading a book.
• How to have Leadership through agreements is better than old school "command and control." Scorecards set targets to avoid micromanaging.
• Why having 3-5 KPIs per person (quality, quantity, process, show up) provides guardrails and autonomy.
• The importance on having a quality, quantity, process and show up element that can be measured in any role.
• Why focus on issues, not chasing goals. Green across the board but missing the target shouldn't require intervention.
• How implementing scorecards quickly gets alignment. Trust people to know the right KPIs for their role.
• Why great companies are extraordinarily productive, humane and resilient.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Ninety.io
• EOS
• EOS Tools
• Traction
• The Great CEO Within
• The E-Myth
• Built to Sell

In this episode, Kuba shares his vision for ZenPilot Marketing. He details his strategy to transition ZenPilot's perception from merely a ClickUp implementation partner to a team of agency operations experts. Kuba emphasizes the importance of promoting the ZenPilot team and using platforms like YouTube and LinkedIn to highlight their expertise and unique personalities, fostering a more connected audience.

Kuba also offers valuable insights into "low-hanging marketing fruit" for agencies. He discusses the importance of investing in team development and leveraging their individual personalities to build a loyal audience. He highlights the value of using AI tools like ChatGPT for content repurposing, and encourages agencies to focus on creating high-quality content around crucial keywords.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Vision for ZenPilot Marketing
• Low-Hanging Marketing Fruit for Agencies
• The importance focus on creating one or a few pieces of high-quality content around important keywords.
• Why you need to invest in developing your team’s personalities and give them a platform to share their expertise.
• How your mindset as a leader trickles down to your team and agency.
• Kuba’s Best Tip for Agency Operators: Work on Your Mindset

Presenting Sponsor: ZenPilot

If you're an agency owner or leader looking to level up your operations and maximize your team's potential, then we have the perfect solution for you.

ZenPilot knows that you are tired of wasting time on trial and error — that's why we provide tried-and-true solutions that will help you grow and scale quickly and sustainably.

So, what are you waiting for?

Go to zenpilot.com to learn more.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Jakub Grajcar LinkedIn
• ZenPilot's Website
• Gray MacKenzie's LinkedIn

Do you struggle to create work that truly resonates with your audience? The ability to craft stories and messages that forge meaningful connections is what separates good creators from great ones. In today’s episode, host Gray MacKenzie sits down with storytelling expert Jay Acunzo.

Jay Acunzo, The founder of the Creator Kitchen, a membership program helping you push yourself creatively. He's also an author, speaker, and host of the award-winning podcast Unthinkable, where creative people take us inside the unconventional choices they made to break from best practices.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• How to resonate with your audience by crafting memorable stories
• Learn about posture and practice and what it means as an creative.
• The four ways to communicate with your audience.
• What stories should be focused on.
• How to practice crafting stories and work on developing your own narrative style.
• What does the Creator Kitchen community look like
• Jay's recommended people to follow
• The Unthinkable Podcast Process

Presenting Sponsor: ZenPilot

If you're an agency owner or leader looking to level up your operations and maximize your team's potential, then we have the perfect solution for you.

ZenPilot knows that you are tired of wasting time on trial and error — that's why we provide tried-and-true solutions that will help you grow and scale quickly and sustainably.

So, what are you waiting for?

Go to zenpilot.com to learn more.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Unthinkable Podcast
• Creator Kitchen's Website
• Jay Acunzo's Website
• Jay Acunzo's LinkedIn
• Total ANNARCHY Newsletter
• Playing Favorites Newsletter
• Gray MacKenzie's LinkedIn

In this episode, Erika Zeigyte, CEO of a consulting & recruitment agency called Prosana. joins Gray Mackenzie to discuss the intricacies of hiring an A+ talent for your agency.

Erika also shares her insights into what makes for great agency candidates, how to build an effective hiring process, the benefits of using a recruiting agency, interview techniques, and recommended tools for recruiting.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• What makes someone a good fit for an agency?
• How to vet candidates for agency roles
• How to balance candidate experience with thoroughly vetting candidates
• The common positions recruited in an agency
• Hiring challenges with junior candidates
• The elements of a first-class hiring process
• Prosana's hiring process
• How to source and qualify candidates effectively
• Ways to do an effective outreach to candidate prospects
• Recruitment agency tech stack
• When to consider using an outside recruiting agency (pros and cons)
• Effective interview questions to ask a talent during interview

Presenting Sponsor: ZenPilot

If you're an agency owner or leader looking to level up your operations and maximize your team's potential, then we have the perfect solution for you.

ZenPilot knows that you are tired of wasting time on trial and error — that's why we provide tried-and-true solutions that will help you grow and scale quickly and sustainably.

So, what are you waiting for?

Go to zenpilot.com to learn more.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Erika Zeigyte's Linkedin
• Prosana's Website
• ClickUp
• Asana
• Jeb Blount
• Gray MacKenzie's Linkedin