Entrepreneurs are always looking for an edge to stand out from their competition. One of the best ways to do this is by attracting and retaining driven talent and building a culture and atmosphere that the teams and customers enjoy working with. And that’s precisely what today’s guest has been doing for over two decades.

Veronique James is the CEO and founder of the James Agency, a full-service integrated marketing agency in Scottsdale, Arizona, where she’s worked with clients like USA Pickleball, Northern Arizona University, Travel Costa Mesa, and the Phoenix Children’s Foundation, to name just a few. She prides herself on building a respectful, honest, and ego-free environment and helps clients connect their brand to their audience with authenticity.

In our conversation, she shared how she finds moments of calm in her hectic schedule, the hard lessons that helped her build a high-performance luxury agency that retains clients and talent, and the mistakes that so many businesses make when trying to find their ideal customers.

In this podcast interview, you’ll learn:

• How Veronique’s first job at a marketing agency showed her what not to do as she started to build and grow her business.
• Why the James Agency avoids churning employees, stays lean, and maintains a strong culture even when scaling.
• Why customers are hungrier than ever for authenticity.
• How Veronique is using AI as a supplement–not a replacement–at work.
• What Veronique did during the COVID pandemic to avoid cutting a single employee, maintain culture, and keep up morale during what was otherwise a very challenging year for her business.
• How to screen prospective clients early on–and help a client that isn’t a good fit leave on their own.

Interview Resources

• The James Agency
• The James Agency on LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | X/Twitter
• Veronique James on LinkedIn | Instagram | X/Twitter
• EO
• Rim to Rim to Rim
• Brené Brown
• Megan Simoes
• Audible
• Scaling Up Compensation: 5 Design Principles for Turning Your Largest Expense into a Strategic Advantage by Verne Harnish, Sebastian Ross