Small But Mighty Agency: How to Grow Your Agency

Discover why identifying the missing processes for other businesses is an opportunity that service-based business owners can miss and how Joel invested his time to build a delivery process that set him and his team up as the go to experts in an uncontended niche. 

Joel Klettke is the Founder of Case Study Buddy a specialized team who help B2B brands capture, share and cash in on customer success stories. He is  also a sought after conversion copywriter for SaaS and B2B, having served clients like Hubspot, WP Engine and Scott’s Cheap Flights. 

On this episode of Small But Mighty Agency: 

10:08: What is the the value of being in a deep niche and why it’s the opposite of limiting

14:46: Using one simple marketing strategy to grow both his businesses 

16:44: The power of defining and articulating his process to exponential growth

19:53: Why he thinks of his company as a powerful process masquerading as a company 

20:43: How he went through “the muck” to figure out what works

30:13: The catastrophic failure of hiring 10 people into his business and why it failed

32:10: Why people who are good at their craft have a difficult time stepping into the manager role and building a team for their business 

34:57: How he decided on the right partner for his business and perspectives on partnerships 

Show Links:

Case Study Buddy Website

LinkedIn: Joel Klettke

Twitter: Joel Klettke

This episode is brought to you by the FREE Strategic Connections Roundtable

Join the free Strategic Connections Roundtable where creatives, consultants and service-based business owners can meet new business connections without the awkwardness of traditional networking. It's a curated experience where the group fit is curated so that connections and conversations thrive.

That means that every month, a strategic connections roundtable will bring together a group of service based business owners in similar stages of business who can benefit from knowing each other SO that you can

• Make connections easier
• Share what your business offers
• Discover new resources
• And have an opportunity to mastermind a challenge

Save your free seat right here

Now it’s time to build your Small But Mighty Agency

Thanks for tuning into the Small But Mighty Agency Podcast! If you enjoyed today’s episode, head over to Apple Podcast to subscribe, rate, and leave your honest review. Connect with me on Instagram, LinkedIn or visit my website for even more detailed strategies, and be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media.

Listen on Apple

Listen on Spotify

 If you have a sales ceiling that you keep bumping up against and can’t seem to bust through? Or maybe you’re navigating the complexities of an efficient small team? Listen in on this candid conversation about mindset blocks and team wins and struggles with Lindsay O’Donnell. 

Lindsay O'Donnell is the founder and owner of Piquant Marketing, a Vancouver-based digital marketing agency that specializes in health food. After years of being an activist and bouncing around different industries, she found her calling working with small food businesses wanting to change the world.

On this episode of Small But Mighty Agency: 

5:05  – Why the thinking behind “when I have extra money then I will hire” is flawed

7:43  – Learning to delegate and the mindset shift that needs to take place to go from doing to delegating

13:34  – The different stages of hiring and how Lindsay is managing her team of 12 contractors

20:56  –  The relationship between hitting sales goals and building a team 

26:18  – Why team members might not own the work like you the business owner wants them too

34:08  – The additional activities that Lindsay says contributed to the best sales month ever

Show Links

Piquant Marketing

Piquant Marketing on Instagram 

 This episode is brought to you by the FREE Strategic Connections Roundtable

Join the free Strategic Connections Roundtable where creatives, consultants and service-based business owners can meet new business connections without the awkwardness of traditional networking. It's a curated experience where the group fit is curated so that connections and conversations thrive.

That means that every month, a strategic connections roundtable will bring together a group of service based business owners in similar stages of business who can benefit from knowing each other SO that you can

• Make connections easier
• Share what your business offers
• Discover new resources
• And have an opportunity to mastermind a challenge

Save your free seat right here

Now it’s time to build your Small But Mighty Agency

Thanks for tuning into the Small But Mighty Agency Podcast! If you enjoyed today’s episode, head over to Apple Podcast to subscribe, rate, and leave your honest review. Connect with me on Instagram, LinkedIn or visit my website for even more detailed strategies, and be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media.

Listen on Apple

Listen on Spotify

Get an inside peek into how this Award-Winning Strategy Agency of The Year is doing things differently. With 37 people (and growing), his agency has no departments and instead uses a concept called casting, to bring the right people into the right creative projects.  Hear how Scot and his team reduce the fear of failure and perfectionism paralysis by actively showing clients the quantity of ideas that failed to get to the quality ones.

Scot Keith is the co-founder and CEO of 123w an idea and design agency that launched in 2013 with humble beginnings in a small garage in Vancouver. Scot has a long-standing success record in creative agencies, before co-founding 123w,  he worked at Palmer Jervis DDB, Lowe Roche, and helped to start-up Zulu Alpha Kilo and his first company Kommunity.

On this episode of Small But Mighty Agency: 

 3:44  – How the greatest weakness in his business became the greatest opportunity for his brand positioning.

4:28  – Why are 45% of his team members creative directors?

8:32  – Why say no to having departments and how he uses the concept of casting

9:33  – The core principles of casting and going against the casting stereotypes for the most creative campaigns

12:21  – Why creativity doesn’t come out of thin air and his methodical approach to creativity

14:02 – How to consistently arrive at great work

14:33 – Why showing clients where you failed is an ingredient for success

18:33 – The value of being relentless and the impact on his business

19:55 – Why having an award winning agency parallels a winning sports team

21:56 – The most important lesson you can learn as a leader 

Show Links

123w Website 

Scot Keith Linkedin 

Simon Sinek  

Malcolm Gladwell Book "Outliers" (10,000 hours) 

This episode is brought to you by the FREE Strategic Connections Roundtable

Join the free Strategic Connections Roundtable where creatives, consultants and service-based business owners can meet new business connections without the awkwardness of traditional networking. It's a curated experience where the group fit is curated so that connections and conversations thrive.

That means that every month, a strategic connections roundtable will bring together a group of service based business owners in similar stages of business who can benefit from knowing each other SO that you can

• Make connections easier
• Share what your business offers
• Discover new resources
• And have an opportunity to mastermind a challenge

Save your free seat right here

Thanks for tuning into the Small But Mighty Agency Podcast! If you enjoyed today’s episode, head over to Apple Podcast to subscribe, rate, and leave your honest review. Connect with me on Instagram, LinkedIn or visit my website for even more detailed strategies, and be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media. 

Click here to listen on Apple 

Click here to listen on Spotify 

If you’re a creative, consultant, or agency owner who wants to know what the rollercoaster ride really looks like to grow your business from one to many — — you’re in the right place. 

My guests and I pull back the curtains on the realities of growing and running agencies of different sizes and what it takes to build a team.

And if you’re anything like me, you want more than the highlight reel, you want to learn from the mistakes of others so that you can stop short of the same mistakes.

I'm your host, Audrey Joy Kwan I spend my days as a coach and consultant to multiple 6 and 7 figure agency owners. For the last 7 years, I’ve been behind the scenes helping people grow, lead and operate small but mighty agencies.

Here at the Small But Mighty Agency Podcast, we'll uncover what works —and equally as important— what didn't work to get these business owners to where they are today.

Ready? Set. Let's go.