The Agency Growth Podcast

**Cold Open (Jake has a question for the audience)**

We keep seeing gurus make the money part of owning an agency really simplified. How money is spent and finances are handled in an agency at $10k/mo and at $100k/mo look very different but no one talks about it.

Cody and Jake do a deep dive in how money looks at different levels of the business.

----------------------------------

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.

----------------------------------

Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:

• Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
• Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
• Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
• Reddit: u/JakeHundley

**Cold Open (Jake and Lauren sneak onto First Class train in Japan)**

**Skip the Cold Open at 13:18**

There seems to be some confusion around the practical application of having a CRM in an agency. Jake aims to clear that up in this episode.

Aside from the typical derailments, Jake talks about:

• What a CRM technically is (you're probably already using one and don't even know it)
• Why you should be using a free CRM at first
• How Jake uses it on a daily basis
• How it helps Jake close more sales

----------------------------------

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.

----------------------------------

Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:

• Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
• Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
• Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
• Reddit: u/JakeHundley

**Cold Open (Jake and Cody talk about their Hubspot automation)**

**Skip the Cold Open at 7:08**

There are many different lead generation agency models out there. On one hand, an agency can only be responsible for delivering leads. Another lead gen agency may also follow up with those leads for the client to make sure they close.

We address why we don't like lead gen models in which it's the agency's responsibility to follow up with the leads.

We also explain common objections to the idea of only supplying the leads and leaving the follow-ups and closing to the client such as:

• Knowing the close rate of the platforms you're driving leads on.
• Knowing your client's average close rates.
• Setting the right expectations

Jake also explains that if you follow up and close leads for your client, you're taking a foot out of the marketing agency space and putting another in the "consulting and sales" space.

----------------------------------

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.

----------------------------------

Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:

• Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
• Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
• Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
• Reddit: u/JakeHundley

**Cold Open (Cody's had his credit card hacked twice in two months)**

**Skip the Cold Open at 9:00**

Jake and Cody answer the questions:

• What is networking?
• Who do you network with?
• Why should you network?

For starters, it depends on what you're trying to do. Are you trying to grow your business or get better at growing your business? Because they're two different things.

If you're trying to grow your business, Jake has tips and explains why you shouldn't care about networking with other agency owners. Instead, you should be networking with other professionals inside your niche that aren't agency owners.

If you're trying to get better at growing your business, Cody talks tips and who to network with on the operations side... that is... other agency and business owners. But the challenge is knowing which agency owners to network with -- it's usually not the ones you meet online.

----------------------------------

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.

----------------------------------

Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:

• Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
• Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
• Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/

Ahrefs has been in the SEO community chatter quite a bit since the pricing model change so we thought it'd be good to bring Tim Soulo himself on the podcast to talk a little bit about the reasoning behind that.

But we wanted to get more value out of the episode than that.

In this episode, Tim gives us some useful keyword research tips both using paid tools as well as free tools and sheds some light on the accuracy... or lack thereof... when it comes to the metrics that SEO tools spit out including how inaccurate Google's owned tools' metrics such as Search Console and Keyword Planner.

Tim uncovers how Ahrefs does keyword research for their own blog using "Business Potential" keywords and the downside of using Google's free keyword tools.

Additionally, if you're a longtime listener of the podcast, you know that Cody and Jake have been pretty anti-paid tools when it comes to SEO and SEO research. In this episode, hear Tim counter Cody and Jake's argument on the idea that paid tools aren't necessary for new agency owners.

----------------------------------

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.

----------------------------------

You can find Tim Soulo and Ahrefs at these profiles / locations:

• Twitter/X: @timsoulo
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/timsoulo/
• YouTube: @AhrefsCom
• Website: www.timsoulo.com/

----------------------------------

Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:

• Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
• Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
• Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/

**Cold Open (Jake's optimal morning)**

**Skip the Cold Open at 3:06**

We hear a lot of people quitting their day jobs in order to start an agency in which they have no experience -- only "knowledge" they've gained from online resources.

To be frank, this is a dumb idea.

We have grown our agency to near the half-million dollar mark while Jake still has a full-time day job. Doing this has allowed safe and steady growth while keeping full-time benefits and the same standard of living.

So where do we find time to run a successful agency while also dedicating 40 hours per week somewhere else?

Well, we tell you how we did it and continue to do it in this episode.

----------------------------------

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.

----------------------------------

Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:

• Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
• Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
• Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/

**Cold Open (Lissette is gone and we're sad)**

**Skip the Cold Open at 5:30**

We keep seeing agency owners emphasize the importance of documenting processes in order to scale, but there are a few problems with this. Most people:

1. Don't know how to document their processes
2. Don't know where to put their documentation
3. Don't know what to do with it once it's documented
4. Don't treat it like a living, breathing document
5. Don't even know what their processes are

In this episode, we go over what "documenting your processes" means, how we do it, what we do with it, what you should and shouldn't document, and where we organize it.

----------------------------------

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.

----------------------------------

Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:

• Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
• Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
• Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/

**Cold Open (Cody is back from surgery)**

**Skip the Cold Open at 4:26**

Jake is seeing way too many people looking for "appointment setters" and "high ticket closers" for agencies and SMMAs in Facebook groups.

Building an agency off of this model will ultimately kill your agency.

This also brings up an interesting point -- if you own a social media marketing agency... how good are your social media marketing services if you can't even get clients using the services you provide?

Instead of complaining about the above, we talk about what you should be doing to get your clients and where to get them without appointment setters and high ticket closers.

----------------------------------

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.

----------------------------------

Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:

• Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
• Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
• Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/

**Cold Open (Jake has to do dad stuff)**

**Skip the Cold Open at 2:45**

Cody and Jake often find listeners and other agency owners stuck. Whether they're stuck at only a few clients or struggling to move past $20k/mo, a few things keep popping up over and over again with these agencies who struggle to scale passed their current status.

With these 6 things, nothing should be able to stop you from scaling your agency:

1. You’re trying to scale too fast
2. You lack a foundation
3. Your processes aren't outlined or documented
4. You don't know your internal labor rate
5. You don't plan ahead
6. Your product sucks

----------------------------------

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.

----------------------------------

Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:

• Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
• Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
• Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/

**Cold Open (Nobody with a beard is happy -- Cody has a beard)**

**Skip the Cold Open at 6:30**

If you run ads for your clients, you've likely run into a few issues...

• The budgeted amount wasn't spent
• Too much was spent
• The account spends inconsistently and you have to spend too much time managing the spend
• You're getting too many accounts and it's hard to keep up

We discuss the 5 ways we manage client ad spend and budgets for platforms like Facebook and Google.

We answer questions like:

• Whose card should be on file?
• If you plan to spend $500 in a month, how do you track and pace that to make sure you spend that?
• When do you need to pay attention to spend?
• What are ways you can prevent "doomsday scenarios" in which too much is spent?

We break out how we manage client ad spend for over 50 accounts with 5 key points:

1. Know who's legally responsible for overspend
2. Use a daily budget tracker
3. Beginning and end of month require more time for monthly accounts
4. Use automated rules
5. Longterm honesty is better than short-term profits

----------------------------------

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.

----------------------------------