The Agency Growth Podcast

**Cold Open (TikTok releases search ads / Subscribe to Stacked Marketer)**

**Skip the Cold Open at 11:13**

Cody and Jake talk about how adding more services to your offering won't necessarily get you more clients or help you grow.

What you should do instead is figure out what you're actually selling. You're not selling SEO and Google Ads, you're selling leads. You're not selling organic social media posting, you're selling branding.

Attempting to sell a service you're not an expert in is a slippery slope in the legitimacy and perception of your agency to your clients.

As mentioned in the cold open, if you're not subscribed to Stacked Marketer, are you even a marketer?

• https://www.stackedmarketer.com/friend-recommended/?utm_source=sparkloop&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=sm_daily&rh_ref=9731be28

And as always, if you enjoyed this episode or any other episode, leave us a rating on Spotify or a review on Apple. It helps us get found and gives us the motivation 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 (We discuss the worst things we've ever bought online)**

**Skip the Cold Open at 8:54**

If you're looking for advice on scaling an ecommerce marketing agency, this episode is for you.

Cody and Jake are pretty notorious for not speaking well of the ecommerce niche. Not because ecommerce is bad to get into but because ecommerce companies that have a high enough budget to pay agencies and remain profitable are few and far between.

In this episode, we're joined by Mike Begg from AMZ Advisers, a 7-figure ecommerce marketing and consulting agency.

Mike tells the Everbros how he scaled his agency, how he started, who he works with now, and how his services and pricing model work.

We grill him more on his agency and his advice for other aspiring 7-figure ecommerce agency owners like:

• What is the ideal client when you're first starting out?
• Why doesn't he like working with founder-led organizations?
• What's his pricing model and what some other pricing models are?
• How he tracks ROI for his clients
• And much more

Mike also talks about working in Mexico and doing business there -- even so far as to starting a company helping brands get into Mexico's ecommerce industry with GoAvance.

Have more questions for Mike that we didn't ask him in this episode? You can find him on all of his personal socials below:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/m1ke_begg/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mbegg/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/mike_begg

Be sure to check out his business socials as well!

• Facebook: https://facebook.com/amzadvisers
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amzadvisers/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/10895001
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/amzadvisers

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 gets detained at customs)**

**Skip the Cold Open at 14:00**

In this episode, Jake talks about his personal journey over the last 3.5 years going from a negative income making $42,500/year at an inside sales position at the beginning of 2020 to making $200k/year by 2023.

Something that was not mentioned in this episode is that Jake had a negative income at $42,500, meaning more money was coming out for bills than was coming in from his day job. Additionally, Jake didn't graduate college, which made him hard to employ for a position that yielded a higher wage.

This isn't a step-by-step guide or a how-to episode. We wanted to talk about this to show you what it looks like to not only make money by turning a side gig into a full agency but also growing your personal career life with a day job at the same time.

Getting to the $200,000 mark obviously didn't happen overnight, but there were significant changes each year that added to the bottom line both on the Evergrow side and the career side.

• 2019: Jake closes out the year at $42,500
• 2020: Jake and Cody make money and Jake closes out the year at $80k
• 2021: Jake and Cody have an explosive year and Jake takes a new day job, closing out the year at $125k
• 2022-2023: Evergrow continues to grow pushing Jake to the $200k mark

Cody asks the real questions about the problems Jake faced making $42.5k vs the problems he faces now and how things have changed as well as what things Jake still worries about.

If you have any questions about Jake's journey or want to reach out to us, head over to our website at everbrospodcast.com.

Also, if you liked this episode or any other one, leave us a rating on Spotify or a review on Apple! It really helps us get found and gives us the motivation to keep coming up with things to talk about and provide 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 asks what our biggest prediction flops were)**

**Skip the Cold Open at 4:16**

Chris M. Walker, owner of Legiit and Superstar SEO joins us on this week's episode to talk about why it's important for you to know how to execute the service you're delivering and not simply hire a contractor to do it for you -- at least no without being somewhat of an expert yourself.

We talk about how it isn't only unethical but it also isn't scaleable.

We also cover:

• How Chris got started with his SEO career and started Superstar SEO
• How and why Chris started Legiit
• How an Alex Becker course was actually a catalyst for Legiit
• How Chris used cold email to get clients when he first started
• How freelancers can use Legiit to get clients
• And much more

Legiit.com is a platform where freelancers, agencies, and course creators can list their services where people are looking for those services. Unlike Upwork or Fiverr, buyers find you on Legiit, not the other way around.

Superstar SEO is Chris' agency he started before creating Legiit where they offer SEO training, consulting, and managed SEO services -- all conveniently productized on legiit.com.

You can find Chris on various social media platforms as well as his sites linked above:

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/superstarseo/

Twitter: twitter.com/cmwalker

Facebook: facebook.com/cmwlegiit/

If you like this episode or any other episode, leave us a rating on Spotify or a review on Apple. It helps us get found and gives us the motivation 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/

On this special episode, Cody, Jenny, Jake, & Lauren all meet up in Kofu, Yamanashi, Japan for an in-person podcast episode!

In this episode, we talk about all things relationships when it comes to owning an agency.

Lauren gives her take on what it was like to date Jake while he already owned an agency and Jenny tells us about the feelings she had when Cody decided to partner up with Jake.

We also dive into the positives and negatives being an entrepreneur and agency owner can have on our relationships and how we've worked through some of those things and where compromises had to be made.

Deciding to be an agency owner and entrepreneur isn't just a personal struggle, it also affects our loved ones around us.

If you enjoyed this episode or any other episode, leave us a rating on Spotify or a review on Apple -- it really helps us get found and gives us more motivation to produce 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/

On this special guest episode, we invite Alec Smith on the podcast; a former coworker and friend of ours at the agency we all worked at together in Iowa.

Alec brings a unique perspective to the show as he, like us, left the agency employment life and started his own freelance / agency.

However, after a while, even while proving to be successful on his own, he decided to give his clients a 30-day notice and work for another agency that wanted to bring him on as a full-time employee.

Alec explains his decision and why the business side of things no longer interested him, yet was able to find an agency to work for that gave him the autonomy, higher earning potential, and flexibility he was looking for when starting his own agency.

Alec also explains how he got into digital marketing, specifically PPC marketing almost by accident and his journey to where he is today.

Have any questions for Alec or want to reach out to us? Head over to everbrospodcast.com and let us know!

As always, if you liked this episode or any other one, leave us a rating on Spotify or a review on Apple. 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 (Airport and flying tips and business travel)**

**Skip the Cold Open at 9:43**

We've wanted to talk about the books we'd recommend to other agency owners for a while now so we decided to put together a pretty comprehensive list of those.

Jake went deep. Cody provided his top 3-4 books.

Here's a link to each book and article we recommended:

Jake's Recommendations to the Listener

• How to Win Friends and Influence People (Dale Carnegie)
• The ONE Thing (Gary Keller & Jay Papasan)
• Start with Why (Simon Sinek)
• Profit First (Mike Michalowicz)
• Rework (Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson)
• The Art of War (Sun Tzu, translated by Thomas Cleary)
• The Prince (Niccoló Machiavelli)
• Crush It! / Crushing It! (Gary Vaynerchuck)
• The Boron Letters (Gary C. Halbert & Bond Halbert)
• Little Red Book of Selling (Jeffrey Gitomer)
• The Simple Path to Wealth (JL Collins)
• The E-Myth Landscape Contractor (Michael E. Gerber & Anthony C. Bass)
• This book is specific to the landscaping niche, but there may be one specific to your niche. If nothing else, check out the general E-Myth book.
• On Writing Well (William Zinsser)***
• Recommended by both of us.

Books Cody Recommended to Jake but Jake Still Hasn't Read Yet

• My Life in Advertising / Scientific Advertising (Claude C. Hopkins)
• The Master-Key to Riches (Napoleon Hill)

Cody's Recommendations to the Listener

• On Writing Well (William Zinsser)***
• Recommended by both of us.
• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (Robert B. Cialdini, PH.D.)
• Breakthrough Advertising (Eugene Schwartz)
• This is an expensive book.
• Advice is Futile (Edith Zimmerman)
• This isn't a book. It's an article Cody said we'd put in the show notes when he mentioned it in the episode.

Honorable Mentions

• Never Split the Difference (Chris Voss)
• This wasn't mentioned in the episode but Cody has brought this up to Jake on numerous occasions regarding negotiating with clients and vendors -- written by an actual FBI hostage negotiator.
• Stacked Marketer (Newsletter)
• We've mentioned this before but if you want to stay up to date on all things digital marketing, this is the #1 newsletter we both recommend. We unsubscribed to all other marketing newsletters and only subscribe to this one.

Do you have any book recommendations for us? Tell us at everbrospodcast.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 (How many alarms do each of us set to wake up?)**

**Skip the Cold Open at 4:14**

On this episode, Jake and Cody are joined by Toggl Marketing Director, Ilia Markov, discussing the importance of tracking time in your agency for reasons beyond simply billing.

We've talked about tracking time for various reasons in episode 4 (How to Price Your Agency Services) but most importantly in episode 19 (Understanding Your Internal Labor Rate Calculation is More Important Than Making Money) -- however, in this episode, we dive deep into the not only why time tracking for multiple reasons is important in agencies, but also which tools you can use.

Ilia, Jake, and Cody discuss why time tracking is important for agencies as well as key features of various time tracking apps including Toggl.

Toward the end of the episode, you'll learn:

• How Toggl is much more than a time-tracking app
• How time reporting is just as important as time tracking
• How Toggl Track integrates with other project management tools like ClickUp
• Toggl's own project management tool, Toggl Plan
• New Toggl features such as Toggl Hire

Additionally, for the next 3 months after this episode's air date, Ilia has been gracious enough to give all Everbros Podcast listeners 20% off on annual plans for new members by using code "EVERBROS"!**

Head over to toggl.com to learn more about their products!

As always, if you enjoyed this episode or any other episode, it would greatly help us get the word out there by leaving us a review on Apple or a rating on Spotify.

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/

**The Everbros Agency Growth Podcast does not receive any compensation for referrals to Toggl. This is strictly an offer Ilia wanted to offer to our listeners.

**Cold Open (Cody exclaims his love for konbinis and how often he eats at them)**

**Skip the Cold Open at 3:45**

We've noticed a lot of newer marketing agency owners out there understand the importance of niching down but it looks like they have trouble grasping the concept of doubling down and becoming an expert in that niche.

You can't simply "niche hop" every month or so; you need to stick to it and become an expert in that niche -- that's how business owners will trust you and how you'll establish credibility.

But what does it mean to be an expert in your niche and how do you go about doing it? How do you become an expert and how do you portray that to your target audience?

In this episode, Jake lays out exactly what he did and what he still does to establish himself and Evergrow as the industry experts in lawn and landscaping.

As always, if you liked this episode or any other one, leave us a rating on Spotify or a review on Apple.

If you have anything you want to reach out to us about or comment on this episode, head over to our website at everbrospodcast.com!

**Cold Open (Making some changes to the podcast - including shorter Cold Opens)**

**Skip the Cold Open at 3:58**

Whether you're first starting out or you've been in the agency game for a while, eventually you'll want to explore adding new services to your business. In this episode, we talk about how we navigate adding new services to offer to clients without having them crash and burn.

When you offer a new service that you don't have a lot of experience in, you run the risk of rocky setups and underwhelming performances which can leave a bad taste in your clients' mouths.

Jake also talks about the importance of learning the craft before you start charging people for it.

The TL;DR on the episode is:

• Find a service that your clients want and could be mutually profitable
• Offer that service for a discounted rate to test it out
• Manage client expectations
• If success is found, ramp up the pricing
• Create a system around that service

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

Our recommended agency tools:

everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/

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

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:

YouTube: @agencyu

Twitter/X: @theagency_u

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu

Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu

Instagram: @theagencyu

Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley

TikTok: @agency.u