Cody C. Jensen talks with Jason Barnard about scaling with soul.

Scaling with Soul! Cody C. Jensen, Founder and CEO of Searchbloom, reveals how to build a $900 million client-generating agency without sacrificing your values. Drawing from his experience as a former Google employee and 10+ years scaling an award-winning search marketing agency, Cody shares his proven framework for growing teams from 3 to 25+ employees while maintaining ethics and transparency. Discover why he banned the word "client" from his company, how to replace yourself strategically at each growth stage, and the six core values that drive lasting relationships and industry-leading retention rates.

In this episode, you'll discover:- The leadership transition points that make or break scaling companies- Why bespoke services and scale aren't enemies when done right- How to embed your team directly with partners for maximum results- The "two pizza rule" for effective team management- Why AI agents enhance human expertise rather than replace it- How transparent communication drives $900M+ in client results

This conversation offers a blueprint for entrepreneurs who want to scale their business without losing their soul or compromising their values.

#ScalingWithSoul #SearchMarketing #SEOAgency #EthicalBusiness #TeamBuilding #BusinessGrowth #Leadership #DigitalMarketing #Entrepreneurship #AgencyLife #BusinessValues #ScaleUp #StartupGrowth #BusinessStrategy #Podcast #FastlaneFounders #CodyCJensen #Searchbloom

What you’ll learn from Cody C. Jensen

This episode was recorded live on video July 1st 2025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LLA0BGXbwg

Links to pieces of content relevant to this topic:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1265-searchbloom-digital-marketing-and-seo-strategies/id562518965?i=1000700534958https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/scaling-a-digital-marketing-agency-with-white-hat/id1360621621?i=1000698844372Cody C. Jensen

Transcript from Cody C. Jensen with Jason Barnard on Fastlane Founders And Legacy. Scaling with Soul

[00:00:00] Jason Barnard: So I'm looking at the screen. I can see scaling with soul. AI doesn't have a soul. 

[00:00:07] Cody C. Jensen: Does not have a soul. 

[00:00:08] Jason Barnard: Agential AI doesn't have a soul. So there's another contradiction going on there. So how do you scale with soul and use AI? 

[00:00:17] Cody C. Jensen: I think number one, recognizing AI for what it is. As you said, It does not have a soul.

[00:00:25] Cody C. Jensen: It is literally a machine. You're having conversations with a computer that has very little knowledge as it relates to being a human, right. It can only learn from humans itself and then over time, it can teach itself more and more. So scaling with soul starts, I believe with leadership, top down. 

[00:00:48] Jason Barnard: So you have a soul. 

[00:00:51] Cody C. Jensen: I have a soul. Yes. 

[00:00:53] Jason Barnard: So describe your soul to me, because then that becomes the vision of the company that passes down to the leadership. 

[00:00:58] Cody C. Jensen: Exactly. Yeah. So my soul, I suppose is based on ethics and white hat practices, doing things the right way from the beginning and not taking any shortcuts, knowing that failing is not failing unless you stop. These are parts of like my makeup, if you will. And that's where we took those values or innate things about me and about some of our other leadership team and created our core values. 

[00:01:35] Narrator: Fastlane Founders and Legacy with Jason Barnard.

[00:01:39] Narrator: Each week Jason sits down with successful entrepreneurs, CEOs, and executives and get them to share how they mastered the delicate balance between rapid growth and enduring success in the business world. How can we quickly build a profitable business that stands the test of time and becomes their legacy?

[00:01:58] Narrator: A legacy we're proud of. Fastlane Founders and Legacy with Jason Barnard. 

[00:02:04] Jason Barnard: Hi everybody, and welcome to another Fastlane Founders and Legacy. I'm Jason Barnard. And I'm here with a quick hello and we're good to go. Welcome to the show code Cody C. Jensen. 

[00:02:17] Cody C. Jensen: Howdy! Welcome. Thank you. 

[00:02:19] Jason Barnard: I struggled to get the C into the melody there. So we're talking about scaling with soul, scaling your business, but I would hope also scaling in your case, your SEO services.

[00:02:30] Jason Barnard: So it's scaling and business, both the company itself and the services you offer. That's going to be super interesting. And before that, as always, we look at Brand SERP. So here's your search result on Google, Cody C. Jensen. And you there with the C that disambiguate. You said there's a famous YouTuber who challenges you for the place on the Brand SERP.

[00:02:51] Jason Barnard: Is that why you added the C? 

[00:02:53] Cody C. Jensen: It's exactly why I added the C. Yep. 

[00:02:55] Jason Barnard: Okay, brilliant. Pity that you don't have a Knowledge Panel but that's my obsession and I know it's not everybody's obsession. I love them. They look really cool, but I also understand that not everybody sees them in important. But what I think you will love is this, which is Gemini.

[00:03:12] Jason Barnard: I went in and asked Gemini about Cody C. Jensen, founder and CEO of Searchbloom to find out more about you. It's got a really nice description about you, your background and experience and Searchbloom's approach. Which if I read it, I don't need to interview you and we could close the show now. How about that? 

[00:03:32] Cody C. Jensen: It would probably do a pretty good job? 

[00:03:35] Jason Barnard: Yeah. Now would it do a good job because you've done a good job in your communication of Searchbloom online? 

[00:03:43] Cody C. Jensen: That is the only reason it could do a good job is because I've positioned myself and Searchbloom in such a manner where the LLMs, whether it be Gemini or Grok, or GPT, it doesn't matter. Like you could check, you could use ChatGPT right now and ask what is the best SEO company there is? Searchbloom will be on that list. 

[00:04:05] Jason Barnard: Right? So you've intentionally gone out and optimized Searchbloom for LLMs. 

[00:04:13] Cody C. Jensen: In a roundabout way, yeah. Most SEOs will tell you that AEO or Answer Engine Optimization or GEO, Generative Engine Optimization is simply Search Engine Optimization.

[00:04:27] Cody C. Jensen: It's just an evolution of that using a different source medium which is like that answer engine. I found loopholes and hacks to be able to get into Gemini's response or the specific, quick answer that Google's providing the AI overview, AIOs. 

[00:04:51] Jason Barnard: Okay.

[00:04:52] Jason Barnard: And how do you think that's going to evolve? You're saying there are easy hacks at the moment that if you look for them, you can find them. Do you think that Window's going to stay open for long? 

[00:05:01] Cody C. Jensen: I think that maybe quick hacks is the wrong word. I think, first you have to establish yourself and your brand, and that is not quick nor easy.

[00:05:15] Cody C. Jensen: And from there you can leverage it. And a lot of it comes down to money. For example, in order for you to become one of the best SEO agencies according to AIO or Gemini. You have to be cited as such in relevant articles, right? So what we do is we reach out to those relevant articles and ensure that we are placed appropriately. More often than not that is a transactional approach.

[00:05:47] Jason Barnard: Okay. So you were saying it isn't SEO on steroids or SEO adapted it. It's a whole different approach. What's the attitude you set you need to change in order to be able to move into that? 

[00:06:00] Cody C. Jensen: First you need to understand how much people are using specifically your ICP. How much is your ICP using ChatGPT. Let's be honest, it controls the majority of the market, ChatGPT but how much your audience is using that particular AEO.

[00:06:20] Cody C. Jensen: And then from there, you can optimize for it. if your audience is not using LLMs, there's no reason for you to go out and buy a listing on some platform. 

[00:06:34] Jason Barnard: Yeah. Which makes total sense. And I love the point, if your audience isn't using it, there's no point. Which is delightful and simple and obvious and smart at the same time.

[00:06:44] Jason Barnard: So scaling with soul, your company has scaled from what I understand, pretty quickly. 

[00:06:51] Cody C. Jensen: I wouldn't say quickly. We're 10 and a half years old. So I think the most of our growth happened over the last four years maybe. 

[00:07:00] Jason Barnard: Alright. Us too. Very similar but you are a little bit ahead.

[00:07:03] Jason Barnard: You've got 25 people on your team. How did you find the difference between having three people, 15 people and 25 people in terms of being the CEO of the company?

[00:07:15] Cody C. Jensen: Each stage is completely different. Managing a business with three to five people is what I call very much a startup, like just getting things going. And maybe you have some SOPs, maybe you have some process, some you have a project management system, you have your streamlined approach, maybe you have even methodologies at that point. But it's still so much in its infancy. When you get from five to when you break the 10 headcount mark, that's when you have to really replace yourself probably two times at that point. You'll need someone to help operate, in the form of a director of operations or operations manager or something like that. Because I believe in the two pizza rule where you can only manage as many slices as there are in a single or two pies, right?

[00:08:20] Cody C. Jensen: And I've managed 20 people at a time. That's a full-time job and nothing else can occur.