Small But Mighty Agency: How to Grow Your Agency

How do you build a collaborative partner network that actually works and can help you grow your business?

In this week’s Small But Mighty Agency podcast, we connect with Jon Allison, the owner of a Branding Studio with a track record of using authentic relationship marketing to grow his business and deliver exceptional work. 

What’s impressive is that 70% of the work Jon currently does in his business involves his collaborative partners. 

Together we explore: 

• Growing a business with collaborative partners
• What makes a collaborative partner network successful?
• Why white-labeling doesn’t work in collaborative partner networks and what to do instead 
• How to work effectively when sharing work with collaborative partners 
• How value-match, not formality, is key

Jon’s an open book about what makes his collaborative partner network effective, from size to budget transparency, values alignment, and all the things to look out for. 

Tune in if you want to spend less time doing busy work with relationship marketing and tap into how a collaborative partner network can work for you. 

Show Links:

Backcountry Branding Website: https://backcountrybranding.ca/

Backcountry Branding LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonallison/

Get my signature COMPASS method inside our Team Growth Roadmap 

This episode is brought to you by the FREE TEAM GROWTH ROADMAP

What if you didn’t spend all day, every day, in the weeds of running your business? 

More flexibility. More freedom. Less overwhelm. 

You’d scale your business with more ease

Gain clarity on the strategic systems and leadership actions to create a self-managing team that can support your clients and frees up your time.

My free Team Growth Roadmap will give you my COMPASS method to get you out of the weeds of running your business and help you build a small but mighty team that gives you more freedom and flexibility.

Click this link to unlock the COMPASS Method

Thanks for listening to the Small But Mighty Agency Podcast, if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review on iTunes or send a screenshot on Instagram while tagging me  @audreyjoykwan

Focus is a superpower. 

But distractions are everywhere. 

You’re short on time, and you want to grow your business with less overwhelm.

How do you steer clear of shiny opportunities and ideas that are vampires to your time and energy?

How do you make better strategic decisions? 

I rarely share about how I arrived at my mission and my why. 

That’s because, for the longest time, I didn’t know how to share something so personal. 

My deep connection to my mission and why (I started my business) keeps me focused when there are hard decisions to make. 

In this episode, I share with you how I use my deep connection to my mission and why (I started my business) to keep strategically focused and not only grow faster but grow with less overwhelm. 

Show Links

Joel Sellentine: Finding a north star and growing a seven-figure agency in 4 years: https://audreyjoykwan.com/podcast-ep19/

Get my signature COMPASS method inside our Team Growth Roadmap 

This episode is brought to you by the FREE TEAM GROWTH ROADMAP

What if you didn’t spend all day, every day, in the weeds of running your business? 

More flexibility. More freedom. Less overwhelm. 

You’d scale your business with more ease

Gain clarity on the strategic systems and leadership actions to create a self-managing team that can support your clients and frees up your time.

My free Team Growth Roadmap will give you my COMPASS method to get you out of the weeds of running your business and help you build a small but mighty team that gives you more freedom and flexibility.

Click this link to unlock the COMPASS Method

 Thanks for listening to the Small But Mighty Agency Podcast, if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review on iTunes or send a screenshot on Instagram while tagging me  @audreyjoykwan

How do you engage and inspire younger generations in your service-based business? Today we’re exploring Generation Z, the most entrepreneurial generation of our time. 

Generation Z is disrupting the traditional ways of entering the workforce by choosing entrepreneurship over being an employee. 

In this episode, I speak with Julie Wang on embracing being a Generation Z agency-owner and her insights on employing her Generation. 

On this episode of Small But Mighty Agency: 

• Why being a Gen Z agency-owner is a unique value proposition 
• Exploring the gap between job role expectations versus the reality of entry marketing roles for Gen Z
• Freelancing as the gateway to business ownership for young entrepreneurs and why most Gen Z’s are doing it
• Internal motivations and external factors that are shaping the ambitions of Gen Z
• What does Gen Z really want in a job? 

Show Links

Tiny Planet Digital Website: https://tinyplanet.digital/

Tiny Planet Digital LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tiny-planet-digital/

Tiny Planet Digital Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tinyplanet.digital/

This episode is brought to you by the FREE TEAM GROWTH ROADMAP

What if you didn’t spend all day, every day, in the weeds of running your business? 

More flexibility. More freedom. Less overwhelm. 

You’d scale your business with more ease

Gain clarity on the strategic systems and leadership actions to create a self-managing team that can support your clients and frees up your time.

My free Team Growth Roadmap will give you my COMPASS method to get you out of the weeds of running your business and help you build a small but mighty team that gives you more freedom and flexibility.

Unlock the COMPASS Method right here

Thanks for listening to the Small But Mighty Agency Podcast, if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review on iTunes or send a screenshot on Instagram while tagging me  @audreyjoykwan

Are you a marketer, consultant, or creative who started your business with a specialized skill? 

You have steady revenue, a solid client base, and work coming in. 

It’s more than you can handle by yourself, but you’re saying yes to everything. You’re working 24/7, and it isn’t the life you dreamed of as a business owner. 

If that’s you, you’re not alone.

in this episode of the Small But Might Agency, we explore Trevor’s trajectory from:

• Transitioning from freelancer to an agency over a course of 6 months 
• Going from broad services to specializing to grow his business faster
• Creating the runway to build his business by letting go of wrong-fit clients 
• Using profit-share bonuses to incentivize entrepreneurial team members 

Show Links

Trevor Longino Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trevorlongino/ 

Trevor Longino Twitter: https://twitter.com/TrevorLongino 

Crowdtamers Blog: https://crowdtamers.com/blog/ 

Crowdtamers Website: https://crowdtamers.com/  

This episode is brought to you by the FREE TEAM GROWTH ROADMAP

What if you didn’t spend all day, every day, in the weeds of running your business? 

More flexibility. More freedom. Less overwhelm. 

You’d scale your business with more ease

Gain clarity on the strategic systems and leadership actions to create a self-managing team that can support your clients and frees up your time.

My free Team Growth Roadmap will give you my C.O.M.P.A.S.S method to get you out of the weeds of running your business and help you build a small but mighty team that gives you more freedom and flexibility.

Unlock the C.O.M.P.A.S.S Method right here

Thanks for listening to the Small But Mighty Agency Podcast, if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review on iTunes or send a screenshot on Instagram while tagging me  @audreyjoykwan

What does it take to grow an agency from 0 to 7 figures in four years? 

The first thing I noticed about Joel, founder of KARMA jack is his joy and zest for life.

He has an uncanny ability to make conversations about almost any topic lighthearted yet packed with insights. 

In this episode of the Small But Mighty Agency, Joel shares how he grew his agency to 7 figures in four years, and that includes: 

• Finding a north star in his business and creating a business with more meaning 
• How to keep the authenticity of giving back as company mission versus company marketing 
• The value of investing in a team in his first year of business 
• How he is leading a seven-figure marketing agency of 23 people
•  The step-by-step morning routine that keeps him inspired 

Meet Joel Sellentine, after a successful career in fundraising and helping grow several businesses, Sellentine invested his leadership ability and marketing expertise into starting his own agency. Now leading an eclectic team of marketing experts, the data-driven agency has led a wide array of clients to incredible success. With a Bachelor of Arts in English from Oakland University, he started an internship program for Detroit area students and uses the driving force of one day giving away $1 million in scholarships.

Show Links

Traction by Gino Wickman: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8549192-traction 

The One Thing by Gary Keller: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16256798-the-one-thing 

Atomic Habits by James Clear: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40121378-atomic-habits

Joel Sellentine LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joelsellentine/  

This episode is brought to you by the FREE TEAM GROWTH ROADMAP

What if you didn’t spend all day, every day, in the weeds of running your business? 

More flexibility. More freedom. Less overwhelm. 

You’d scale your business with more ease

Gain clarity on the strategic systems and leadership actions to create a self-managing team that can support your clients and frees up your time.

My free Team Growth Roadmap will give you my C.O.M.P.A.S.S method to get you out of the weeds of running your business and help you build a small but mighty team that gives you more freedom and flexibility.

Unlock the C.O.M.P.A.S.S Method right here

Thanks for listening to the Small But Mighty Agency Podcast, if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review on iTunes or send a screenshot on Instagram while tagging me  @audreyjoykwan

What if the traditional rules of productivity and work are broken because they are outdated? 

Meet Brittany Berger, she’s on a unique mission to help neurodivergent individuals work smarter, not harder, whether a business owner or not. 

Brittany believes that the traditional rules of productivity and work that people learn are inaccessible for many. 

She speaks candidly about her neurodivergent brain and how she has leveraged it in her business to be more productive and focused. 

In this episode of Small But Mighty Agency, we explore: 

• How to recognize the point of diminishing returns where more work doesn’t pay off
• Building a business with Chronic Illness, ADH, and Autism 
• Reducing content creation overwhelm by using a content remixing strategy 
• Why posting one piece of content over and over again will work in your favor 

​​Brittany Berger is the founder of Work Brighter, a digital media company that helps productive people go beyond working smarter to a version of productivity that makes room for “unproductive” things like rest, self-care, and fun. 

Show Links

Susan Cain, Author of Quiet Revolution: https://www.quietrev.com/author/susan-cain/  

Work Brighter Website: https://workbrighter.co/ 

Work Brighter IG: https://www.instagram.com/workbrighter/ 

Brittany Berger Website: https://www.brittanyberger.com/ 

Brittany Berger IG : https://www.instagram.com/thatbberg/ 


This episode is brought to you by the FREE TEAM GROWTH ROADMAP

What if you didn’t spend all day, every day, in the weeds of running your business? 

More flexibility. More freedom. Less overwhelm. 

You’d scale your business with more ease

Gain clarity on the strategic systems and leadership actions to create a self-managing team that can support your clients and frees up your time.

My free Team Growth Roadmap will give you my C.O.M.P.A.S.S method to get you out of the weeds of running your business and help you build a small but mighty team that gives you more freedom and flexibility.

Unlock the C.O.M.P.A.S.S Method right here

Thanks for listening to the Small But Mighty Agency Podcast, if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review on iTunes or send a screenshot on Instagram while tagging me  @audreyjoykwan

How does diversity drive progress and creativity in marketing agencies? 

And why will agencies who don’t address the call to action on diversity and inclusion get left behind? 

In this Small But Mighty Agency episode, I connected with Mooren Bofill, Partner of 123West, an award-winning agency, to explore the topic of diversity and inclusion and what Morren is doing to champion initiatives that are not just band-aide approaches. 

Tune in to gain insights on:

• Why diversity and inclusion make an agency more creative and successful 
• Learning to see ethnicity as a superpower to creative work in an agency
• When doing the same things go un-noticed how does  it impact diversity and inclusion 
• How an award-winning agency is innovating to create more opportunities for people in underprivileged backgrounds to advertising 

We also get to talking about what it was like to work in agencies as a young woman of Asian ethnicity. Yes, that was like 15 years ago. We both speak candidly about our upbringings, struggling to find our voice and learning to see our ethnicity as the superpower.

Join us in this vital conversation about re-thinking the impact of diversity and inclusion to help you build a better business. 

Show Links

123 West: https://123w.ca/ 

Morren's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mobofill/ 

This episode is brought to you by the FREE TEAM GROWTH ROADMAP

What if you didn’t spend all day, every day, in the weeds of running your business? 

More flexibility. More freedom. Less overwhelm. 

You’d scale your business with more ease

Gain clarity on the strategic systems and leadership actions to create a self-managing team that can support your clients and frees up your time.

My free Team Growth Roadmap will give you my C.O.M.P.A.S.S method to get you out of the weeds of running your business and help you build a small but mighty team that gives you more freedom and flexibility.

Unlock the C.O.M.P.A.S.S Method right here

Thanks for listening to the Small But Mighty Agency Podcast, if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review on iTunes or send a screenshot on Instagram while tagging me  @audreyjoykwan

What are some of the biggest fears business owners I work with having about building a team?

It’s normal to have fears, it doesn’t make you less likely to have an effective team but understanding how these fears track and what’s true instead will help any business owner become a better leader and grow a more profitable business whether you have a team of one or many. 

In this solo episode of the Small But Mighty Agency Podcast

     ▪️Discover the two ways of thinking that self-sabotage business owners from having effective teams.
     ▪️Uncover how these fears track in reality and what's true instead.
     ▪️Why business owners don’t know that they are micro-managing
     ▪️How to have uncomfortable conversations with someone who isn’t keeping commitments
     ▪️Get clear on the three-pillar foundation you need so that you don’t self-sabotage
     ▪️How can a roadmap help you grow your business with a team more confidently?


Show Links

Audrey Joy Kwan https://www.audreyjoykwan.com/ 

This episode is brought to you by the FREE TEAM GROWTH ROADMAP

What if you didn’t spend all day, every day, in the weeds of running your business? 

More flexibility. More freedom. Less overwhelm. 

You’d scale your business with more ease

Gain clarity on the strategic systems and leadership actions to create a self-managing team that can support your clients and frees up your time.

My free Team Growth Roadmap will give you my C.O.M.P.A.S.S method to get you out of the weeds of running your business and help you build a small but mighty team that gives you more freedom and flexibility.

Unlock the C.O.M.P.A.S.S Method right here

Thanks for listening to the Small But Mighty Agency Podcast, if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review on iTunes or send a screenshot on Instagram while tagging me  @audreyjoykwan

Lots of companies and corporations say they are people first but are they?

Talk is easy. Alignment of business decisions to the principles and values of people first isn’t that simple. 

Meet Kate Strathmann; she thinks of her business as an incubator for building a company that gives her team the freedom and flexibility they need. 

In her bookkeeping agency and consultancy practice, Kate makes decisions in alignment with the actions and values of the cooperative economy where her goal is not to maximize profits for her gain and instead have a business created to meet the human needs of her team. 

On this episode of Small But Mighty Agency: 

      ▪️What does it mean to build a counterculture business that isn’t centered around the primary purpose of profitability for the owner or the founder(s)?  

      ▪️How she uses a matrix of compensation to create a system for her team to have more freedom and flexibility

      ▪️How she prioritizes quality work over the amount of time spent at work and how that inspires her team for excellence

      ▪️One untraditional action in her hiring process that helps her find the right fit for her culture 

Kate Strathmann is a multi-disciplinary business owner and a rebellious spirit. She is the owner and director of Wanderwell, a consulting and bookkeeping practice that grows thriving small businesses while investigating new models for being in business. Wanderwell integrates financial expertise with an empathic, vision-forward approach, and leads with the belief that businesses can help create a more just world that centers people, community, and the environment.

Show Links

Wandererwell Consulting: https://wanderwellconsulting.com/ 

Wanderwell Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_wanderwell_/ 

Kate Strathmann LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katestrath/

This episode is brought to you by the FREE TEAM GROWTH ROADMAP

What if you didn’t spend all day, every day, in the weeds of running your business? 

More flexibility. More freedom. Less overwhelm. 

You’d scale your business with more ease

Gain clarity on the strategic systems and leadership actions to create a self-managing team that can support your clients and frees up your time.

My free Team Growth Roadmap will give you my C.O.M.P.A.S.S method to get you out of the weeds of running your business and help you build a small but mighty team that gives you more freedom and flexibility.

Unlock the C.O.M.P.A.S.S Method right here

Thanks for listening to the Small But Mighty Agency Podcast, if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review on iTunes or send a screenshot on Instagram while tagging me  @audreyjoykwan

Raising your rates?

Andréa Jones is the CEO of Online Drea a social media marketing agency that brings in between $70K - $80K per month with high ticket retainers. 

But that wasn’t always the case.

Listen to how Andréa transitioned from a $500 retainer service by leveling up her offer and then raising her retainers that now range between $2500 to $5000 per month. 

Join us in this episode of the Small But Mighty Agency to explore:

      ▪️When is the right time to raise your rate?

      ▪️How to raise your rates and communicate your new rates to legacy clients

      ▪️Why losing clients isn’t a bad thing when growing a business

      ▪️The marketing activities that tripled her revenue

      ▪️When is the right time to create a course and membership when you have an agency

Andréa Jones has built an online business committed to empowering businesses to utilize the power of social media in a positive and impactful way, without being overwhelmed and drained by it. With over 7 years experience in the game, Andréa hosts the acclaimed podcast Savvy Social Podcast, leads a team providing done-for-you service inside of her marketing agency that was named a Top Digital Marketing Agency in 2021, and serves over 200 students in her membership Savvy Social School.

Show Links

Andréa’s video on How To Organize Social Media Content using Airtable: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fw9vCKj_Do

Website: https://onlinedrea.com 

IG: https://instagram.com/onlinedrea

FB: https://facebook.com/onlinedrea

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/onlinedrea

This episode is brought to you by the FREE TEAM GROWTH ROADMAP

What if you didn’t spend all day, every day, in the weeds of running your business? 

More flexibility. More freedom. Less overwhelm. 

You’d scale your business with more ease

Gain clarity on the strategic systems and leadership actions to create a self-managing team that can support your clients and frees up your time.

My free Team Growth Roadmap will give you my C.O.M.P.A.S.S method to get you out of the weeds of running your business and help you build a small but mighty team that gives you more freedom and flexibility.

Unlock the C.O.M.P.A.S.S Method right here

Thanks for listening to the Small But Mighty Agency Podcast, if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review on iTunes or send a screenshot on Instagram while tagging me  @audreyjoykwan