The Progressive Agency Podcast

Know your business numbers; they are the key to identifying problems, opportunities, and when to expand your team. Hear insights about:

• How Isaac founded his digital advertising business, AdVenture Media, while attaining his Master's Degree
• How Isaac's passion for learning Google Adwords helped drive his agency's spectacular growth, and how Isaac learned why it is so important to know your business numbers
• Why cutting corners in your marketing won't get you the results you want, and why it's crucial to invest in and follow through with your campaigns
• Why Isaac believes it is crucial to set expectations with his clients before money changes hands,
• and why patience and follow-through are vital
• Why the key to a fruitful partnership between AdVenture Media and its clients is for Isaac and his team to spend time learning the client's business and expectations
• Why Isaac describes himself as "risk-averse," and why he struggled to decide to invest in hiring team members to help with the workload
• Why adding team members and delegating tasks is a powerful way to grow your business, freeing you to work on the things that will truly move the needle
• Why it is crucial to know your business numbers and how hiring team members affect those numbers, and why that level of clarity is the key to knowing when to hire
• Why ordinary people with a powerful work ethic are far more effective and productive than extremely talented people who do the bare minimum to get by

• Website: https://adventureppc.com/
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/isaacrudansky/
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/adventure-media-group-llc/
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/AdventurePPC
• Twitter: @isaacrudansky
• Twitter: @AdVenturePPC

• Website: www.craigcodyandcompany.com
• Twitter: @CraigC2742
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigcodycpa

Isaac Rudansky founded AdVenture Media in 2012 after earning his Masters's Degree in Industrial Psychology from Hofstra University.

Under Isaac's leadership, AdVenture Media grew more than 100% year over year throughout its first four years in business.

Isaac and the AdVenture team have worked with 500+ companies including multiple publicly traded companies and billion-dollar brands.

Isaac's digital advertising training is the most popular paid search and social ads training on the internet, with over 200,000 students enrolled from around the globe.

Agency coaching? It can help you avoid common mistakes and challenges and accelerate the growth of your agency. Hear insights about:

• How Brent started his first company in 1999 at the age of 17 building websites, and how he sold his agency in 2012 and moved into agency coaching
• Why Brent's goal is to help agencies avoid the same common challenges that he himself experienced growing his agency
• Why the biggest financial challenge Brent faced was bootstrapping his business and not being able to pay his withholding taxes for three years as a result
• Why coaching can help you accelerate the growth of your agency by learning strategies from experienced coaches who have already been where you are
• Why making long-term financial investments in your leadership skills and in your business is a crucial step for the growth of your agency
• How working with his own coach allowed Brent to see how much agency coaching can move the needle for an agency's success
• Why being curious, committed and open-minded are crucial traits for getting the most from agency coaching
• Why Brent believes learning to delegate and developing soft skills are vital and necessary skills any agency owner needs to learn
• How Brent uses data to project the profitability of his agency and to make key financial decisions

As an agency owner, you probably started your business with the intent of putting your skills and experience to work in your chosen field, whether that's marketing or research, staffing, or IT. However, at a certain point in any agency's growth, the owner must learn to extract themselves from the day-to-day work and instead focus on the profitability and health of the agency.

Making that transition from subject matter expert to business leader requires developing many new skills that probably lie outside your area of expertise, and so it can be challenging to shift your mindset and step into a leadership role. That's where working with a great coach can help.

This week's guest on the Progressive Agency podcast is Brent Weaver, founder, and CEO of UGURUS. Brent's agency specializes in agency coaching and teaching owners how to avoid common challenges and mistakes and to instead focus on growing their businesses. Agency coaching can help you accelerate your path to success by allowing you access to expert insights and experiences from people who have already navigated the path you're on. During our conversation, Brent shared how he helps his clients level up their leadership skills, learn to delegate the day-to-day work to their teams, and better understand their business financial numbers.

As Brent explained during his visit to the Progressive Agency podcast, the return on investment from agency coaching takes a while to show up; it isn't a magic bullet that will instantly transform you as a leader. However, patience is rewarded in the long term, because your agency will grow significantly faster when you have the voice of experience helping you make important decisions and helping you better understand your role as a leader.

Brent says that the biggest thing that helped him boost his agency's profitability and growth was developing his soft skills and leadership. Brent believes that it's crucial for agency owners to be willing to invest in themselves and to approach agency coaching with a committed, focused, patient mindset. After all, Rome wasn't built in a day, and developing your leadership takes time, experience, and trial and error. Why would you want to go through that process alone, when you could instead have an experienced coach helping to guide you and clear your path?

To learn more about Brent Weaver, UGURUS, and the coaching programs and services Brent and his team offer, you can visit their website at https://ugurus.com/ or reach out to Brent directly at [email protected] to request a copy of his book Get Rich in the Deep End. And, as always, please visit me at https://craigcodyandcompany.com/podcast/ for more informative, money-saving podcast episodes like this one.

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://ugurus.com/
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/brentweaver/
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/ugurus/
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/ugurusweb/
• Twitter: @u_gurus

• Website: https://craigcodyandcompany.com/
• Twitter: @CraigC2742
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigcodycpa

Brent Weaver is on a mission to help 10,000 digital agency owners achieve freedom in business and life by helping them own their market.

Brent is the founder and CEO of UGURUS, a business training, and education company dedicated to this mission. He also hosts one of the leading podcasts in the business niche–The Digital Agency Show.

Brent is in partnership with UnlimitedWP–a scalable white label WordPress development team to help digital agencies grow without all the headaches of hiring and managing people. He is also a Brand Ambassador for Cloudways, a WordPress hosting company, helping them evangelize their platform.

When Brent isn't working with agency owners around the globe, he enjoys going on date nights with his wife Emily and biking at the local skatepark with his two sons.

Tips for scaling a business that will help you minimize risk and get more done. Bill Sebald shares his best tips for scaling a business. Hear insights about:

• How an early dream of becoming a rock star musician sparked Bill's interest in the internet and driving traffic to websites
• What sets Greenlane apart from competitors in the digital marketing and search engine optimization space
• What tips for scaling a business Bill picked up over the course of his career that can benefit your own agency
• Why the most important financial lesson Bill learned growing his agency was that having just a few "tentpole" clients was too risky
• What strategies Bill would recommend for agencies who are looking to grow and expand, and why many organizations don't care how big your agency is if you're creative
• What time-saving tips and daily strategies Bill uses to maximize the things he is able to accomplish each day
• Why pushing away distractions and focusing on the big picture is the key to making a bigger impact with your business
• Why hiring the right people who are strong in the areas you're weak in can help you unlock the potential of your business

• Website: www.greenlanemarketing.com
• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billsebald/
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/greenlane-marketing
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/greenlaneteam/
• Twitter: @billsebald
• Twitter: @greenlane_team

• Website: https://craigcodyandcompany.com/
• Twitter: @CraigC2742
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigcodycpa

Bill Sebald started in digital marketing in 1996, in the earliest days of SEO. Since then, he has worked with more than 100 highly recognized retailers, fashion brands, sports brands, and B2B businesses. He speaks, teaches, and writes all over the web. Today, Bill owns a Moz recommended search marketing agency (called Greenlane) focusing on growing ROI in competitive markets through search marketing.

Know your business numbers? If you don't, you don't have all the info you need to make the best possible business decision. Hear insights about:

• How Ryan fell in love with digital marketing very early in the field's existence, and how he scaled up to where he is today
• How The Blueprint Training came to be, and what kinds of SEO training services and resources they offer clients
• Why the key financial mistake Ryan sees agencies making is classifying everything as expenses rather than separating out labor costs
• Why it is crucial to know your business numbers like profit margins, expenses, labor costs, and other key metrics
• Why Ryan and his team fire clients if they aren't reaching an 80% gross margin from the client, even if it is no fault of the client's
• Why you need to reach a point where you aren't the only one doing everything in your business, and why hiring others is a smart business investment
• Why investing in coaches and training is another smart business investment, and why all your free time should be devoted to marketing your business
• Why "doing more" for your clients isn't the right way to add value, and why having one amazing offer is better than having lots of generic products or services

How to Connect with Ryan Stewart:

• Website: https://webris.org/
• Website: https://theblueprint.training/
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/thedigitalmarketingconsultant/
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/webris/
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/the-blueprint-training/
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/hellowebris
• Twitter: @ryanwashere

• Website: https://craigcodyandcompany.com/
• Twitter: @CraigC2742
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigcodycpa

Ryan Stewart is the Managing Partner at WEBRIS, a search marketing agency that helps B2B companies increase leads from Google through short term SEO sprints. Ryan is also the Managing Partner at The Blueprint Training, a training platform for SEO professionals and agencies offering templates, SOPs, video training and private Slack channels.

Important business lessons about hiring, firing, understanding the numbers powering your agency, and more from guest expert Jason Mudd. Hear insights about:

• What sets Axia Public Relations apart from its competitors, and what important business lessons Jason learned during his company's incredible journey
• How encountering the power of the internet for the first time opened Jason's eyes and pushed him to transition from journalist to corporate storyteller
• How Axia's own podcast, On Top of PR, has grown and become a powerful thought leadership tool
• Why one of the most important business lessons Jason has learned over his career is to "stay out of debt and keep your cash flow high"
• How the 2007/2008 recession and losing 40% of their clients shifted Jason's perspective on the importance of understanding the numbers powering his business
• What common mistakes Jason has seen agencies often make, and why it is important to "hire slow and fire fast"
• Why taking a statistics course when studying to become a journalist served Jason well years later as a business leader
• Why Axio Public Relations has always been paid upfront for their work, and why that has proven to be invaluable over the years
• Why Jason believes you can't be too aggressive about ensuring that you are paid quickly and on time

• Podcast: On Top of PR with Jason Mudd: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/on-top-of-pr/id1530395967
• Website: http://jasonmudd.com/
• Website: www.axiapr.com
• Website: www.reviewmaxer.com
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jasonmudd/
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/axiapr/
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/ReviewMaxer
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/AxiaPR/
• Twitter: @jasonmudd9
• Twitter: @AxiaPR

• Website: www.craigcodyandcompany.com
• Twitter: @CraigC2742
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigcodycpa

Jason Mudd is a trusted adviser and dynamic strategist to some of America's most admired and fastest-growing companies, including American Airlines, Budweiser, Dave & Buster's, H&R Block, Hilton, HP, Miller Lite, New York Life, Pizza Hut, Southern Comfort, and Verizon. He is the CEO and managing partner of Axia Public Relations, one of America's Best PR Agencies for 2021, according to Forbes. Jason is an Emmy Award-winning, accredited public relations practitioner, speaker, author, podcaster, and entrepreneur.

Project management software for agencies? There are lots of options. Learn how to find the right platform for your agency with expert Gray MacKenzie. Hear insights about:

• How Gray grew up in a huge family as the fourth of twelve kids, and how ZenPilot came to be
• How Gray and his team scaled their agency and used their experiences to expand into consulting and helping other agencies
• Why the team decided to slowly transition out of software development and focus exclusively on their consulting work
• How the ClickUp project management software for agencies became ZenPilot's focus, and how it differs from competing platforms
• What agencies should specifically be looking for when considering ClickUp or other project management software
• What agencies who benefit most from ClickUp are looking for, and why ClickUp offers a superior user experience
• What kind of timeframe you should expect when implementing new project management software in your agency
• Why adapting new project management software for agencies is a process that requires employee buy-in, adequate training, and other considerations you should keep in mind

Great project management software can be a powerful tool for your agency, but there are lots of choices available. It can be time-consuming and costly to adopt new project management software for agencies, so how do you choose?

This week's guest on the Progressive Agency podcast is Gray MacKenzie, CEO of ZenPilot. ZenPilot specializes in helping agencies take advantage of ClickUp, an all-in-one project management platform designed specifically for agencies.

In this episode of the Progressive Agency podcast, Gray explains what agencies should be looking for when evaluating the various project management software platforms, he outlines what sets ClickUp apart from its competitors, and he offers insights into why choosing the right project management software for agencies can make such a dramatic difference for your agency's efficiency and ability to get more done.

Gray explained that evaluating your options, understanding your goals, and matching your needs to the right project management software for agencies is crucial. The onboarding process typically takes around 10 weeks to complete, plus there are financial expenses to consider. That's why choosing the right platform is so important, because going back to square one can be costly in both time and money.

It's important to consider the features of project management software and ensure that all your boxes are being checked. Don't buy into the marketing and do your due diligence before choosing which project management software for agencies will best meet your needs.

Once you've selected a platform from the long list of project management software for agencies, it's then important to get employee buy-in and ensure that everyone is trained on the new project management tools. Partnering with an agency like ZenPilot can help you make a much smoother transition and hit the ground running, as well.

To learn more about Gray MacKenzie and his team at ZenPilot, you can visit their website at www.ZenPilot.com or reach out to Geoff directly at [email protected]. And, as always, please visit me at https://craigcodyandcompany.com/podcast/ for more informative, money-saving podcast episodes like this one.

• Criteria for Choosing the Right PM Tool for Your Agency: https://doc.clickup.com/p/h/1ngg-91407/4d3718c67324e85
• Website: www.zenpilot.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Schedule a Live Demo: https://meetings.hubspot.com/gray/schedule-demo
• ClickUp Guide for Agencies: https://www.zenpilot.com/clickup-for-agencies-guide/
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/graymackenzie/
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/zenpilot
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/zenpilothq
• Twitter: @sgraymackenzie
• Twitter: @ZenPilotHQ

• Website: www.craigcodyandcompany.com
• Twitter: @CraigC2742
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigcodycpa

Gray MacKenzie from ZenPilot has gone under the hood of over 2100 digital agencies over the past 8 years in search of the best way to build and lead healthy teams and deliver better client services. Gray is a bona fide process nerd and today helps agencies streamline their operations inside a project management platform called ClickUp. You can learn more about Gray and read his definitive guide to ClickUp for agencies at ZenPilot.com.

Marketing for agencies? If you want to stand out, don't be afraid of big, bold, innovative ideas. Hear insights about:

• How watching his father work as a professional sales trainer provided a sales background that has served Matt across his career
• Matt shares the story of the first time he saw digital marketing convert people into customers, and why marketing for agencies can be a powerful way to grow
• How Matt got the idea to create America's Best Restaurants, as a way to connect diners with new restaurants they'll love
• How Matt's business is expanding, and how he and his team repeatedly demonstrate the value of marketing
• Why much of the secret to Matt's career success has been about identifying opportunities that others have missed
• Why spending big money and doing things differently has helped Matt differentiate his company from others in his space
• How Matt and his team manage the big audacious projects they're working on, and how they demonstrate their value to clients
• What challenges Matt and his team at the agency face, and how they turn those challenges into opportunities for big wins
• What key skills have served Matt most effectively across his career and in running his agency

• Website: https://mattplapp.com/
• Website: https://americasbestrestaurants.com
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/mattplapp/
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/therealmattplapp/
• Twitter: @mattplapp

• Website: www.craigcodyandcompany.com
• Twitter: @CraigC2742
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigcodycpa

As the CEO of America's Best Restaurants, Matt Plapp travels the country talking to restaurant owners about what's working and what's not.

Matt sees why they dislike marketing, because they don't see if it works. Since 2008 Matt has been on a mission to help restaurants figure out how to see results from their marketing. It all comes down to getting the attention of your best customers MORE often. But in order to do that, you need to know who they are.

Social media for agencies? The only metric that really matters is the outcome your agency gets, not the number of views or likes. Hear insights about:

• How Jason developed his experience and expertise in social media for agencies, and how he has found his calling helping agencies do more with their social media
• Why Jason decided to leave the corporate world and step into his strengths later in his career, and why going out on his own was the right decision
• How Socialistics started as a side hustle before taking off, and why creating the right runway and momentum was key to Jason striking out on his own
• How Jason defines "vanity metrics" and explains why the real measure of the effectiveness of your social media efforts is the outcome, not views and likes
• Why the difference between a great agency and everyone else is having the ability to navigate social media to achieve the results you want
• What Jason is most afraid of, and how building in a safety net and a "business nest egg" helped soothe those fears
• Why understanding your numbers and having the right team supporting your goals is crucial for your agency's success
• Why, if your business is growing, it is important to get out ahead of your need for talented team members
• Why the biggest thing Jason worked on as a business owner was learning "the power of no" and getting comfortable turning away wrong-fit business
• Why one of the main challenges Jason has faced was dealing with the complexities of business taxes, and why working with a trusted tax partner has helped

• Website: www.jasonyormark.com
• Website: https://socialistics.com/
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jasonyormark/
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/socialistics/
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/socialistics
• Twitter: @jasonyormark
• Twitter: @socialistics

• Website: www.craigcodyandcompany.com
• Twitter: @CraigC2742
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigcodycpa

Jason Yormark is the founder of Socialistics (www.socialistics.com), a leading B2B social media agency that helps businesses turn their social media efforts into real measurable results. He is a 20+ year marketing veteran whose prior work has included launching and managing social media efforts for Microsoft Advertising, Office for Mac, the Air Force and Habitat for Humanity. Jason has been recognized as a top B2B social media influencer and thought leader on multiple lists and publications including Forbes, ranking #30 on their 2012 list. Jason is a published author having released his first book in 2017, and currently resides in Snohomish, WA. You can learn more about Jason and catch more of his writing on his personal blog www.jasonyormark.com.

explains how viral online marketing works. Hear insights about:

• Why Benton describes himself as "three careers" deep into his journey, and how his career path led to being CEO of ad agency Harmon Brothers
• How Benton's business partners, his cousins, pioneered viral online marketing on YouTube, and how this led to the innovation of YouTube's "skip ad" button
• How the "skip ad" button has transitioned the power back to the viewer and encourages advertisers to add value and earn the attention of viewers
• What key financial lessons Benton learned as he and his team were growing their advertising agency
• Why it's important to value the work you're doing as much as the money you're making for doing it
• Why the common theme to Harmon Brothers' big wins has been the marriage of an innovative product with equally innovative viral online marketing
• What time-saving tips, strategies and tools the outbreak of the global pandemic taught Benton to use to make the most of his time and energy
• Which three key "hats" within the business Benton wears, and why he attempts to delegate work that falls outside of those three hats
• How Harmon Brothers has the goal of moving beyond ads and into TV and movie creation, and what exciting projects they're working on now

• Website: https://harmonbrothers.com/home
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/bentoncrane/
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/harmon-brothers
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/harmonbrothers/
• Twitters: @harmonbros

• Website: www.craigcodyandcompany.com
• Twitter: @CraigC2742
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigcodycpa

Benton Crane is the Chief Executive Officer of Harmon Brothers, a Provo, Utah-based ad agency behind the most viral ads in internet history. Since 2013, the agency has collectively driven more than 1 billion views and over $300 million in sales through its groundbreaking social media spots.

Crane believes in bringing excellence to everything he does. Starting his career as an automotive repair mechanic, he was honored as the #1 student mechanic in Utah and #2 in the nation. This knack for diagnosing and solving problems led him to study economics and data analytics. In 2011, he was hired by Deloitte in Washington DC where he served as a consultant with various clients across the national intelligence community.

In 2013, he joined newly formed Harmon Brothers for a campaign to promote Poo~Pourri, an internet ad that transformed the way products are marketed. Harmon Brothers went on to produce the most viral ads in internet history, including Squatty Potty, FiberFix, OraBrush, Poo~Pourri, and Purple. The renowned spotmakers just rolled out another already viral sensation, a brand-new spot for Chatbooks, a new product taking scrapbooking to the digital age.

Crane has managed the agency's growth from its infancy to one of the most sought after ad agencies in the world.

Profit First Method? It's a better way to manage your agency's money. Hear insights about:

• How to participate in Craig's Q&A sessions that take place each Tuesday at 2pm Eastern time
• What the "Profit First Method" is, and how agency owners can take advantage of it to ensure that you always have money left over
• How the Profit First Method uses different bank accounts to allow you to "sequester" your profits into different buckets
• How the Profit First Method leaves money aside for operating expenses and for taxes and eliminates confusion
• Why using the Profit First Method can be advantageous to both new agencies and to existing agencies looking for a better way to manage their money
• How you can adapt the Profit First Method to better navigate challenging times such as the global pandemic

• Profit First: Transform Your Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine by Mike Michalowicz: https://amzn.to/3CdwWeM

• Website: www.craigcodyandcompany.com
• Twitter: @CraigC2742
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigcodycpa

Craig Cody is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Tax Coach™, business owner, and the host of The Progressive Dentist Podcast and The Progressive Agency Owner Podcast. Prior to his current work, Craig spent seventeen years with the NYPD, where he retired as a Lieutenant in September 2000. Craig is an expert in helping his clients legally reduce their tax liabilities and keep more of their money. Through his podcast, Craig helps dentists grow their practices through smart financial decisions and through financial education of the kind that isn't offered in dental school.