Full Episode Here - https://youtu.be/eOZ9DQhM7LE

Jeff Meade (President of MEADE) is an expert in agency positioning. He managed to grow his agency beyond $20 million in revenue prior to moving into agency coaching.

An agency wasn’t the initial vision. At first, Jeff and his co-founders were trying to operate as a consultancy. They quickly learned that a team of 20-somethings simply don’t have the domain expertise to sell consulting services to a Gen Y audience, so they pivoted to an agency model instead.

After growing their agency to 8 figures, they wanted to go international. While they had good conversations with potential partners, they fumbled the offers due to inexperience. They took it as a learning experience and Jeff moved on to coach agencies on how to nail their positioning.

The real battle when trying to settle on your position in the market is really understanding who are the folks you can help and why should they believe in your ability to perform. When people come to Jeff, typically they have a loose position and aren’t at a stage where going all-in on lead generation makes sense. To identify your focus point, you need to stop looking at your previous clients as your north star and really figure out the right profile outside of your existing rolodex.

Tune into the full episode to learn how to differentiate your agency!

HIGHLIGHTS:
0:00 Intro
3:58 Getting to $20+ Million
7:31 The impact of packaging the right offer
10:47 How Jeff moved into coaching
13:03 How to think about positioning
21:24 Grow via thought leadership

Connect with Jeff - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffmeade/

Connect with Mikael - www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/

Andy Crestodina (Co-Founder and CMO at Orbit Media) is an expert at SEO, Analytics, AI, Content Strategy and Website Optimization. He’s gathered a huge following consisting of 100k+ LinkedIn followers and newsletter subscribers. He’s been publishing since 2007, and nowadays speaks on 100+ stages per year. These efforts have enabled his team to generate $8 Million in yearly revenue with no outbound motion and 0 ad spend.

To say that content marketing has evolved over the last 20 years would be an understatement. One tactic that has always worked and still works today is to publish on other, established platforms when you’re new and need to generate initial traction.

Video is all the rage right now, but unless you’re selling something super transactional with widespread appeal, you need a solid strategy to make it into a real revenue generator. As an agency, you should utilize the tactic of BOFU content to help build trust with those who have been burned by other service providers.

Tune into the full episode to learn more insights from a true content marketing master!

HIGHLIGHTS:
0:00 Intro
4:02 The evolution of content marketing
7:03 Is video worth the investment?
10:10 Invest in owned media
13:15 AI for content - hype or the real deal?
20:07 How good can AI really get?
22:44 Grow through variated content

Connect with Andy - https://www.linkedin.com/in/andycrestodina/
Connect with Mikael - www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/

Full Episode Here - https://youtu.be/b3ea3C6x9_A

Galen Low (Co-Founder at The Digital Project Manager) helps agency owners completely transition out of project management work by leveling up their project managers and enabling them to be self-sufficient. Their training program has certified over 700 agency professionals to date, and helped alleviate 50-75% of project management costs for owners.

Their program's first goal is helping PM’s understand the full business picture of what they do and why it’s important. Second is getting rid of the notion that projects run smoothly all the time, and teaching them what to do when issues arise.

SEO is a touchy subject right now. The rise of AI and the rapidly changing Google algorithm has left this field in a state of disarray. SEO did magic for the growth of The Digital Project Manager and even the recent changes haven't affected their traffic. Galen attributes this to the fact that their SEO strategy was never about SEO - but simply about creating high value content that people actually want to read.

Tune into the full episode to learn how to transition out of operations?

HIGHLIGHTS:
0:00 Intro
2:35 Early course mistakes
8:51 Practitioner to teacher
12:17 Common operational problems
15:28 How to level up your PM’s
20:51 Winning SEO approach in 2024

Connect with Galen - https://www.linkedin.com/in/galen-low-digital-transformation-advisor/

Connect with Mikael - www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/

Gray MacKenzie (Founder of ZenPilot) saves agencies from constantly hopping between project management tools such as Asana, Monday, ClickUp, Notion, Teamwork, Wrike, Basecamp, Trello etc. They’ve led over 3000 teams to tighten their operations through ClickUp.

Before becoming a full-time operations consultancy, Gray ran a separate business that offered a project management platform. When they were sunsetting, they took their existing clients and helped them transition to ClickUp, which is how they landed their initial wins. Their next step to grow to 3000+ clients was content creation around the different use cases that ClickUp offers.

Achieving operational excellence comes down to 3 pieces - tools, processes and habits. The toughest part of it all is habits, because unless your team knows they’re being held accountable for their side of the process, everything will quickly fall apart. Gray recommends daily spot checks, as well as scheduled, routine meetings to look at the data and figure out your weakest links.

Tune into the full episode to learn how to master ClickUp for your agency!

HIGHLIGHTS:
0:00 Intro
4:30 Growing to 3000 clients
5:32 From SaaS to Service
8:34 How to achieve operational success
12:01 Some founders HATE project management
16:38 Owners shouldn’t work on delivering
20:42 Content-led Growth

Connect with Gray - https://www.linkedin.com/in/graymackenzie/

Connect with Mikael - www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/

Karl Sakas (Agency Consultant & Executive Coach at Sakas & Company) helps agency owners work less and earn more, while rewarding their best team members. So far he’s worked with over 600 agencies across the globe.

It’s safe to say that working less and earning more is a very common goal. Karl adapted this messaging and even wrote a book - Work Less, Earn More - on this particular subject, as it has universal appeal beyond the agency space.

Not every agency owner wants an exit. Often we see agency owners wanting to scale to a place where the agency does its own work, instead of them working for the agency all the time. Karl believes that agency owners aren’t necessarily either building a lifestyle agency or an equity agency, and instead have shifting priorities that steer them towards one or the other. Both need help to work less and earn more, as an agency that’s fully dependent on the owner is a tough sell, and an agency that requires constant input doesn’t exactly warrant a great lifestyle.

Tune into the full episode to learn how to work less AND earn more!

HIGHLIGHTS:

0:00 Intro

2:48 Ex boss becomes first client
5:17 Work Less, Earn More
7:07 Lifestyle agency or equity agency?
10:55 Make yourself optional
16:08 Proactive prep for an exit
18:46 Clarity is key
21:42 Split the 2 brands

Connect with Mikael - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/

Connect with Karl - https://www.linkedin.com/in/karlsakas/