Summary:

You don’t hate agency life, you hate the decisions you made to survive it.
In this episode, I break down the two mistakes that quietly drain profit, destroy morale, and make agency ownership feel unbearable.

I’ve spent over 8 years building and operating a 50+ person agency, and I’ve paid a massive “idiot tax” learning these lessons the hard way. If you’re exhausted, buried in client requests, or wondering if this is even worth it anymore, this episode is for you.

Takeaways:

• Why “hopeful clients” outside your ICP quietly sabotage your profit and your team
  
  
• The hidden reason bad-fit clients always demand more and deliver less
  
  
• How fuzzy scopes train clients to expect unlimited work forever
  
  
• The exact moment when “being helpful” turns into scope creep and burnout
  
  
• Why combining bad-fit clients + no scope guarantees you’ll lose money
  
  
• The simple 3-month rule that protects your agency from bad bets
  
  
• The $0 change order that stops scope creep without awkward conversations

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Summary:

You don’t fail as an agency owner because you’re bad at marketing.
You fail because you accidentally build something that can’t survive you.

In this episode, I sit down with Tim Keen, who scaled a DTC growth agency to $2M+ ARR, churned every client and every employee, worked himself to the brink and still sold the business.

This isn’t a highlight reel. It’s the messy middle no one warns you about.

Takeaways:

• Why most agencies feel “busy” but are fundamentally unsellable
  
  
• The hidden cost of adding services too early (and why it feels so good)
  
  
• How Tim closed $70k/month retainers without being the best operator
  
  
• The brutal second-year phase where agencies either mature or implode
  
  
• Why “one service, one niche” beats passion, creativity, and variety
  
  
• The difference between a fun consulting job and a real business

Check out Tim's agency here:
Modern Agency Sales

Join the free agency uplift community: https://www.agencyuplift.co/group

Get the 5 free custom GPTs that will help you stop being the bottleneck: https://www.agencyuplift.co/blueprint

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Summary:

I thought results were the glue.
Then a wildly profitable client fired us after six straight months of 18+ ROAS.

In this solo episode, I break down one of the most painful lessons of my agency career and why results alone are never enough to keep clients long-term. If you’ve ever lost a client you shouldn’t have lost, this episode will hit close to home.

Take aways:

• Why results are just table stakes and what actually keeps clients loyal
  
  
• The onboarding mistake I made that quietly destroyed trust from day one
  
  
• How ambiguity in scope kills perceived value (even when performance is insane)
  
  
• Why clients often mistake expert strategy for “luck”
  
  
• The invisible work you must make visible if you want retention
  
  
• How weekly communication repositions you from operator to strategic partner

Join the free agency uplift community: The Agency Uplift Community

Get the 5 free custom GPTs that will help you stop being the bottleneck:
The Agency Leverage Blueprint

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