In this episode of The Agency Hour, we sit down with William Russell, founder of Nerife, a lead generation agency serving commercial solar and roofing companies.

Will shares his journey from a steady tech sales career to running a thriving eight-person agency with a pay-per-appointment model. From grinding through cold outreach to building a global team, his story is full of lessons for agency owners at every stage.

We dive into:

• 🎯 Why he walked away from a “safe” career path in tech sales
• 🚀 The scrappy early days of cold outreach, Upwork connections, and niching down into commercial solar
• 🧠 The mental shift that pushed him to go all-in on agency life
• 🩺 How a sudden heart surgery reshaped his perspective on health, stress, and work-life balance
• 📈 Building a distributed team of 8 across multiple countries (and why fun lunches matter more than you think)
• 💡 The pros and cons of retainer vs. pay-per-appointment pricing models
• 🐢 Why slower, thoughtful growth often beats aggressive scaling

This conversation blends real talk on risk, resilience, and revenue with practical systems for scaling an agency without burning out.

If you’re bootstrapping, scaling, or rethinking your agency model, this episode gives you a raw look at what it takes to grow — and sustain — a service business in 2025.

Chapters

00:00 – Why slowing down can save your agency
 02:00 – From tech sales to entrepreneurship
 05:00 – Health, family, and redefining success
 08:00 – Cold outreach as the growth engine
 13:00 – Early agency lessons (and mistakes)
 18:00 – Building a remote team of eight
 22:00 – Niche shift: from gyms to commercial solar
 28:00 – Pricing models: retainers vs. pay-per-appointment
 35:00 – Work-life balance, travel, and social life
 40:00 – Building culture through “fun lunches”
 45:00 – The grind vs. freedom trade-off

Connect with William Russell

🌐 nerife.com