Advertise on podcast: 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. 👉 Get new episodes right to your inbox - click here 👈

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 Join the Agency Uplift group: https://www.agencyuplift.co/join 👉 Get new episodes right to your inbox - click here 👈

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. 👉 Get new episodes right to your inbox - click here 👈

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 👉 Get new episodes right to your inbox - click here 👈

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. 👉 Get new episodes right to your inbox - click here 👈

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 👉 Get new episodes right to your inbox - click here 👈

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. 👉 Get new episodes right to your inbox - click here 👈

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 👉 Get new episodes right to your inbox - click here 👈

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. 👉 Get new episodes right to your inbox - click here 👈

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 👉 Get new episodes right to your inbox - click here 👈

Summary: What if the biggest thing holding your agency back isn’t your market, your leads, or your team but the assumptions you’ve accepted as facts? It took me more than three years to reach $1 million with my first agency. If I were starting again, I’d approach it very differently. Takeaways: Why $1M doesn’t require dozens of clients. How 9 clients can replace 84. Why bigger clients can actually be easier. The pricing belief keeps agencies stuck. How one billion-dollar brand changed my trajectory. Why growth can become harder by design. The simple experiment that challenges a limiting belief. 👉 Get new episodes right to your inbox - click here 👈

Summary: One client made up roughly 40% of the agency’s revenue. When that client left, the team was massively overstaffed, layoffs followed, and the founders had to confront a painful question: what happens when growth is built on the wrong assumptions? In this conversation, I sat down with Aric Whiteley, co-founder of Lockhern Digital, to unpack the mistakes, systems, and founder dynamics that shaped the next stage of his agency. Takeaways: Why one client created a dangerous revenue concentration. The decision that helped break a four year growth plateau. Why three founders can create decision making gridlock. How we use ownership to avoid leadership by committee. Why speed of decision can matter more than perfect decisions. How founders can create accountability without killing trust. Why AI may change agency operations without eliminating agencies. Check out Aric here at: Lockhern Digital Join the Agency Uplift group: https://www.agencyuplift.co/join 👉 Get new episodes right to your inbox - click here 👈

Summary: Most agency owners are trying to grow. But growth without design can leave you with a bigger business, more complexity, and a job you desperately want to escape. In this episode, I break down the five decisions I would make if I had to build my agency from scratch today. Takeaways: Why revenue alone tells you almost nothing. How to design your role before hiring. Why complexity quietly destroys profitability. How every role can own a measurable outcome. Why founder dependency is an expensive hidden cost. How to build an agency that gives you options. Why you should stop optimizing an agency you never designed. 👉 Get new episodes right to your inbox - click here 👈

Summary: A client can be growing fast, spending heavily, and getting great marketing results and still be a terrible fit for your agency. I sat down with Amir Zinati to talk about one of the hardest lessons in agency growth: sometimes the biggest problems aren’t in the marketing. They’re hiding inside the client’s business. Takeaways: The questions to ask before signing a client. Why “we tried four agencies” is a red flag. How bad unit economics can ruin good marketing. Why taste and performance are different problems. How small project tests can lead to better hires. Why founders struggle to switch off. What changes when an agency becomes a real team. Check out Amir here at: ITANIZ Join the Agency Uplift group: https://www.agencyuplift.co/join 👉 Get new episodes right to your inbox - click here 👈

Summary: LinkedIn isn't Google. People aren't necessarily on the platform looking to buy something, which means asking a cold prospect to book a demo can be a very expensive mistake. I sat down with Chris Nelson, a former LinkedIn employee who now runs an agency helping B2B businesses advertise on the platform. We talk about LinkedIn ad strategy, low-friction offers, client experience, agency systems, and what it actually takes to scale without breaking the business behind the scenes. Takeaways: Why cold LinkedIn traffic needs a different strategy. The problem with asking for demos too soon. How to lower friction with better offers. The different stages of buyer intent. Why good systems still need human judgment. How to handle bad results without hiding them. What to do when agency demand exceeds capacity. Check out Chris here at: InCampaign Join the Agency Uplift group: https://www.agencyuplift.co/join 👉 Get new episodes right to your inbox - click here 👈