The Agency Uplift Podcast

Summary:

AI can save your agency hundreds of hours. But what if those hours are going straight back into low-value work?

I believe most agency owners are approaching AI backward. They're chasing tools and automations instead of asking the one question that actually matters: How will this make my agency better?

In this episode, I break down the philosophy I use at Agency Uplift to turn AI from an impressive experiment into a genuine growth lever.

Takeaways:

• Why automating a task doesn't automatically improve your agency.
  
  
• The difference between saving time and creating real leverage.
  
  
• How to identify the outcomes your employees should actually own.
  
  
• The five overlooked areas where AI can remove repetitive work.
  
  
• Why AI should prepare decisions, not own accountability.
  
  
• The More, Better, New framework for reinvesting recovered capacity.
  
  
• How to choose one AI workflow that can genuinely move the needle.

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Summary:

Scaling an agency sounds great until the cracks start appearing. Projects go over budget, clients lose confidence, employees become disengaged, and suddenly you're spending more time fixing problems than growing the business.

I sat down with Ian Petersen, partner at Newcombin, to unpack how he helped build an 80-person technology business and what agency owners need to get right before growth starts creating more problems than opportunities.

Takeaways:

• Why growing past 40–50 employees exposes operational weaknesses.
  
  
• How Newcombin achieved 3X growth during its first COVID year.
  
  
• Why hiding mistakes is one of the fastest ways to destroy client trust.
  
  
• The delivery manager role that keeps clients and remote developers aligned.
  
  
• How to spot projects going over budget before clients notice.
  
  
• Why your agency needs clear standards before you can truly delegate.
  
  
• How small client experience improvements create long-term relationships.

Check out Ian here at:
NewCombin

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Summary:
What if your agency's most reliable clients are quietly costing you money? I learned the hard way that strong results, long relationships, and healthy revenue don't guarantee a profitable client.

In this solo episode, I share how one long-term client went from a seemingly great account to a hidden drain on our agency and the simple process I wish we'd used years earlier to catch it.

Takeaways:

• Why high ROAS doesn't guarantee healthy agency margins.
  
  
• How legacy pricing quietly eats into profitability.
  
  
• The hidden cost of endless meetings and free work.
  
  
• Why your best clients may be subsidizing your worst.
  
  
• How to calculate the true profit of each account.
  
  
• When to reprice, rescope, improve efficiency, or walk away.
  
  
• The 20 minute exercise that can expose your biggest profit leaks.

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Summary:

Your agency doesn’t need another shiny new service. It needs clients who stay, predictable recurring revenue, and a delivery model that protects your margins.

I sat down with Mark Herre, founder of SEO Game, who has spent nearly 30 years in SEO and built a business around helping agencies deliver results without building every capability in house.

Takeaways:

• Why chasing AI trends can distract you from profitable clients.
  
  
• How to land your first five paying clients.
  
  
• Why affordable retainers can create long-term relationships.
  
  
• How to prove SEO value through calls, traffic, and qualified leads.
  
  
• When outsourcing can improve your agency’s margins.
  
  
• Why local service businesses can be a powerful niche.
  
  
• How to spot projects that look exciting but rarely lead to recurring revenue.

Check Out Mark Here At:
SEO Game

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Summary:

You probably don’t need more leads, another hire, or the latest AI tool to grow your agency. You might just need to stop leaking profit, improve the value of your next 10 deals, and stop being the decision-maker for everything.

In this solo episode, I break down three practical changes that can help you improve your agency’s economics without adding unnecessary complexity.

Takeaways:

• How a $0 change order protects future profit.
  
  
• Why client favors quietly destroy your margins.
  
  
• How a $500 monthly price increase adds $60K in annualized revenue across 10 clients.
  
  
• Why more leads might not be your biggest growth opportunity.
  
  
• How to give your team more ownership without hiring.
  
  
• The three decision categories that eliminate unnecessary founder approvals.
  
  
• How to turn one small improvement into a repeatable agency system.

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Summary:

Referrals can keep your agency busy while quietly holding back its growth. And if your team only understands marketing, not the financial realities behind it, you could be making expensive decisions without realizing it.

In this episode, I sit down with Ryan Sliva, co-founder of Social Media Burst, to unpack the operational and financial decisions that help agencies grow without sacrificing profitability or family life.

Takeaways:

• Why referrals can limit your next stage of growth.
  
  
• How unit economics reveal what marketing reports miss.
  
  
• Why diverse hiring backgrounds create stronger teams.
  
  
• How to build a lean agency around the life you want.
  
  
• Why withholding information makes your team less effective.
  
  
• How to spot when client acquisition needs a new system.
  
  
• Why adding more clients isn’t always the smartest growth strategy.

Check out Ryan here at:
Social Media Burst

Join the Agency Uplift group: https://www.agencyuplift.co/join

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Summary:

Most agency prospects don't want another audit telling them what's wrong. They want to know how much more they could earn and how to get there.

In this episode, I share how I transformed our agency's free audits into growth plans that doubled or tripled our close rate, then improved results further by quantifying the opportunity before asking prospects to book a call.

Takeaways:

• Why free audits struggle to convert.
  
  
• How to turn problems into profitable opportunities.
  
  
• How to quantify potential revenue upside credibly.
  
  
• The four steps to building a compelling growth diagnostic.
  
  
• How to turn one offer into a client acquisition engine.
  
  
• What to do after the diagnostic to win the client.
  
  
• How every diagnosis strengthens your future sales process.

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Summary:

Most agencies sell the prospect to their best people, then hand the account to someone far less experienced. Matt Slaymaker saw that bait and switch firsthand and decided to build his agency around doing the opposite.

In this episode, I sit down with Matt to unpack what happens when you make senior level delivery, honest expectations, and clients trust the foundation of the agency.

Takeaways:

• Why the agency bait-and-switch destroys trust.
  
  
• When junior talent becomes a liability.
  
  
• How to give juniors guardrails without stunting growth.
  
  
• Why client expectations determine retention.
  
  
• How great delivery creates brand evangelists.
  
  
• Why referrals can become your strongest growth channel.
  
  
• How Matt is building toward a 15 person agency.

Check out Matt here at:
Slaymaker Marketing

Join the Agency Uplift group: https://www.agencyuplift.co/join

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Summary: 

You can have 10, 20, or even more employees and still be running your agency like a freelancer with assistants. Every time a client problem, team question, approval, or difficult decision makes its way back to you, you're reinforcing the same dependency: the founder is the safest path to getting things done.

The problem isn't always lead generation, hiring, or productivity. Sometimes, the real constraint is you. In this episode, I break down the doer's trap, why it quietly limits agency growth, and how to start building a business that can produce great work without requiring you to personally produce it.

Takeaways:

• Why growth can actually make your life worse.
  
  
• The hidden cost of being the agency's fixer.
  
  
• How founder dependency creates a capacity ceiling.
  
  
• Why delegation often fails to create real ownership.
  
  
• The seven signals you're stuck in the doer's trap.
  
  
• How to find your agency's biggest dependency.
  
  
• Why “delegate more” isn't the real solution.

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Summary:

The thing that makes you great at delivering client work can eventually become the thing that keeps your agency stuck. Van Oakes reached that point when running the ads himself left him with less time for sales, business development, and actually growing the company.

In this episode, I talk with Van about the uncomfortable process of letting go of work you're good at, building a team around your strengths, and knowing when a client isn't financially ready to scale.

Takeaway:

• Why your best skill can become your biggest bottleneck.
  
  
• The hire that gave Van his time back.
  
  
• Why founders should stay closer to sales than they think.
  
  
• How Van built a 21-person niche agency.
  
  
• Why client profitability matters more than revenue.
  
  
• The metrics Van checks before accepting a client.
  
  
• How he keeps clients for years instead of months.

Check out Van Oakes here at:
Goat Media

Join the Agency Uplift group: https://www.agencyuplift.co/join

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