The Agency Growth Podcast

**Cold Open (Jake moves to Chicago // Jake played Semi-Pro in Portugal)**

**Skip the Cold Open at 19:21**

Sorry for the long cold open. Cody and I haven't recorded in a while, so we had a lot to catch up on.

As tenacious business and agency owners, we tend to dive deep into business, the agency space, and whatever our agency's niche is. However, we have to be careful not to make our entire personalities our business.

Nobody likes that, and it isn't what we got into the business to be. We got into the business so it could help us do the things we actually wanted to do in life.

The agency should fuel your passions. If your personality becomes your agency, then you are nothing without it.

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Our recommended agency tools:

everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/

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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.

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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

**Cold Open (How do you jump-start a car?)**

**Skip the Cold Open at 00:05:44**

We've featured a lot of different kinds of agencies on this podcast but have yet to have an agency on the podcast that deals almost exclusively with direct mail or a more traditional form of advertising.

So we called our buddy, Wayne, up at Inside the Box Marketing to talk about how he and his wife built a 7-figure direct mail marketing agency specializing in postcards for local store franchise marketing and restaurants.

Wayne is the man behind the high-gloss pop-out postcards you might get in the mail from major franchises like Applebee's, IHOP, Domino's, Blaze Pizza, and many more.

We sit him down to talk about direct mail and franchises.

Why direct mail? How profitable is it? Why franchises? How do you get into them?

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Have questions for Wayne? Find him on LinkedIn or reach out to him at [email protected].

You can also visit their local store and franchise marketing website at insidetheboxmarketinginc.com.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/restaurantdirectmailcoach/

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Our recommended agency tools:

everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/

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⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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.

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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

**Cold Open (Business Challenges / Jake is Moving to Chicago)**

**Skip the Cold Open at 11:44**

Our podcast isn't the only agency podcast out there. We decided to have a listen to other podcasts similar to ours and give you our take on them. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

We also spend some time reflecting on our own podcast and wonder what would make ours better for agency owners.

Either way, we hope you take something good away from this, and maybe that's finding another agency podcast you vibe with and helps you along your agency journey.

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Our recommended agency tools:

everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/

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⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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

Earlier this year, when we started verifying agencies in r/agency, we created a user flair for agencies that have achieved the 8-figure status. We didn't think anyone in the subreddit would get that flair... That is, until Jordan Brannon from Coalition Technologies reached out.

One look at his P&Ls, and I knew we had to have him on the podcast.

Jordan has gone through just about what every agency owner has gone through... 5 times or more.

He's the extreme example of what agency owners can achieve if they put in the work and weather the storms. If there's a challenge in an agency, Jordan's been through it.

We asked him in detail what different stages of growth for his agency were the most challenging and how he overcame them. If he were to do it all over again, what would he focus on first or do better with?

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Our recommended agency tools:

everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/

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⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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

The last few episodes we've talked quite a bit about how as agency owners, we start to lose our subject matter expertise in the thing we built our agency on.

We focus on growing the business and being good business owners rather than being the SEO or paid ads experts in the business. It's a weird feeling when your team starts to know more than you.

Of course, you could always be like Joy Hawkins from Sterling Sky.

For those of you in the SEO space, you probably recognize her name. She's the founder, owner, and local SEO expert at her agency, Sterling Sky and frequently contributes to major SEO pulbications like Search Engine Land, Search Engine Journal, and is even frequently featured in Search Engine Roundtable.

We're in awe at how Joy can maintain such an expert-level status on local SEO while maintaining and running her $6m local SEO agency.

How do you maintain expertise while delegating and trusting people to be as good as you? Running the business is a fulltime job let alone being an expert in an area that's changing every day.

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Reach out to Joy on LinkedIn or check out her agency Sterling Sky. We also encourage you to check out their SEO digital conferences and webinars at LocalU. We've attended these ourselves and they are absolutely packed with local SEO information.

Also, check out Joy's local SEO subreddit at r/localsearch!

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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

Borja Cuan from Four15 Digital joins us as we ask him how exactly his agency manages a quarter of a billion dollars in ad spend with only 21 people.

What kind of people do you need on your team to manage that? We envision disaster scenarios where someone on our team ads an extra zero or forgets a decimal in budgets while only spending $1,000 per month in ad spend on a client; imagine that client's actual budget being $500,000 per month and someone forgetting a decimal...

Bo also drops some life advice on what things should actually be stressful and how to handle those, as well as advice for our younger audience trying to seek success as quickly as possible.

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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

Johnathan Gryzbowski from Penji joins us on this week's episode. An episode that was meant to go deep into creating an agency where 100% of the services are whitelabeled through Penji's graphic design capabilities turned into a deep discussion on letting go of the subject matter expertise vine.

We went deep into how to build a great team and how to feel when you're no longer the smartest person in the room... in fact, in most cases, you should probably be the dumbest person in the room at your own company.

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Want 15% off Penji? Use promo code AGENCYGROWTHPOD15 at checkout.

Or use this link: https://penji.co/pricing/?affiliate=AGENCYGROWTHPOD15

Want to reach out to Johanathan directly? Hit him up at [email protected]

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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 social:

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

**Skip the Cold Open at 8:00**

After three years of talking about the Profit First System, we finally do an episode on just that. And what better way to do this episode than to have the creator of the system, Mike Michalowicz, on the show to answer some of our questions regarding how the system works for agencies.

But more importantly, why the Profit First system is important in already profitable agencies.

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Follow Mike on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikemichalowicz/

Get the Profit First book:

https://mikemichalowicz.com/profit-first/

Check out Relay Bank for a Profit First-focused bank:

banklikemike.com

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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

Episode #118's Lindsay Halsey's business partner, Lori Calcott, joins us on this episode to talk about white labeling PPC services for other agencies.

We don't white label for other agencies at Evergrow but we're curious how an agency would consider doing that given that all agencies might sell their services a little different. Additionally, every vertical and industry is different. How does Lori go about creating streamlined processes for PPC accounts across verticals?

Lori also talks more about Pathfinder SEO as a step-by-step guide and training tool on how to conduct monthly SEO services in your agency.

Check out Pathfinder SEO and support the show here:

https://pathfinderseo.com/?ref=mzezy2m

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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

**Cold Open (Charizard-shaped Cheeto Sells for $90k)**

**Skip the Cold Open at 6:38**

What is an AI Agent and the business model surrounding it? We tackle the AI agent topic on this week's episode and why a business model built around the use of an AI agent is fundamentally flawed in the way people are talking about it.

We also cover the hype around AI and how most people aren't using it correctly thinking they have to integrate it into their business or else they'll be left behind.

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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