He went from working 70-80 hour weeks to building a 7-figure agency with 50% profit margins while only working about 1 hour per week. Today he’s the founder of GrowthDaily.com & AgencyReviews.io & he’s known by his 45,000 followers on X as @MarketingMax, but several years ago he was an agency co-owner struggling to make the sort of money he wanted to make (and enjoy the work in the process). That’s when a timely LinkedIn post came across his feed & recommend a book that change the course of his agency–and his life–forever.

Unreasonable clients? Make sure you’re always one step ahead of them. The data never lies, so let our reports do the talking for you…

You probably heard recently on this show, from the dozens of agency owners & leaders we spoke to at INBOUND last year, that the number one place they'd invest extra budget dollars (if they magically had them tomorrow) was in marketing their own agency. This begs 2 questions: 1) Why is this such a common answer? 2) What can you as an agency owner start doing to address this common need? (because an extra $10,000/mo isn't likely showing up in your mailbox tomorrow)

Easy access to reports and dashboards is a game changer. But if your data is siloed in different systems, replicating data can be a daunting task, let alone accurate reporting. And with manual data entry, there’s the risk of human error. Imagine if you could consolidate tools to improve automation - gaining visibility, accuracy, and efficiency within your team. In this episode we’ll hear from Tyler Caskey, a chartered accountant and founder of TheBeanCounters. You’ll learn what to look for in a new tool to centralize more of the workflow and how to introduce this change to the business.

Many peers & consultants have said she's crazy for committing to this pricing model as a software development agency, but Amanda Moriuchi, CEO of AppIt Ventures, says the only crazy thing is to think any structure for your agency will be challenge free. Amanda & her team have made a name for themselves in Colorado & beyond, not only for doing great app development work for their clients, but also by committing to a pricing & delivery model of Fixed Bid project pricing when most other agencies of their type are consistently sticking with a Time & Materials approach.

Asana is where every project, team, and goal come together with AI to propel work forward.

Forget about revenue for a moment. Consider how much more profitable your agency would be if you optimized your team’s time and improved utilization. If you could reduce hiring costs by keeping staff for longer. If you understood the leaky buckets in your outgoings and reduced losses like over-servicing through improved best practice. Manish Kapur, who has over 25 years of experience in creative ops, explains how he streamlines agency operations and boost profit within agencies of all sizes.

Many agency owners don't begin with the end in mind. Did you? If you answer questions like "How much do we need to make?" with "I don't know...more!" or "When will I be able to retire?" with "Not now!"... ...you're not alone. Seasoned agency owner, Karl Heasman, Founder of Greycott Consultancy has had his own successful exits and now helps other agency owners prepare for acquisition--by beginning with the end in mind.

Many agencies--just like yours--are echoing this common refrain: Either it’s feast or famine right now. In today's episode, Joe Sullivan shares how his agency, Gorilla 76, is experiencing a "feast" season where demand is exceeding supply. They’re having to tell clients they can’t start working with them for several months–even if they’re ready to sign & start today. It’s a good problem to have, but one that they’ve still got to solve. An aim for what Joe refers to as “managed growth.”

We're making Basecamp better! It's now easier to make quick edits. Before, editing titles or renaming tools in a Basecamp project took multiple steps, taking you to a different page, and then back again. We made it easier! Now, you can rename projects, tools, documents, messages and more without ever leaving the page. Simply click and make your changes.

Welcome to the May edition of What’s new in Asana. First, build rules faster with smart workflows. Next, use the “Viewer” privacy level to give project members view-only access to project information. Finally, filter and sort portfolio items to quickly analyze data and derive insights.

How can you leverage thought leadership to gain new followers, win new clients, keep them longer and increase referrals for your agency? Susan Baier, Founder of Audience Audit, where they help agencies create thought leadership content based on quantitative research that builds trust with potential clients, has seen thought leadership done well (with great results) and has seen it done poorly (with wasted time and money).

Should you productize your services? Does a productized service business completely differ from the standard agency model? Can both models co-exist within the same business? These are all questions we answer in today's conversation with Sam Shepler, CEO of Testimonial Hero. He transitioned from leading a full-service video production agency to founding a productized service business in 2018. In this episode, Sam shares the 3 specific benefits of productizing your services--and the potential pitfalls to look out for.

If your agency’s become a trusted advisor to your clients, then you’re probably getting asked for recommendations & advice all the time. I can border on a feeling of frustration if you’ve faced this enough: Can you help with this? Do you know anyone you’d recommend for that? If your clients are asking about other areas where you *can’t* help, you hate to not be able to help. But… What if you could add more value to your clients AND tap into partnerships that could generate net-new clients for your agency?

Where would you spend an extra $10,000 a month if you suddenly had that extra cash to invest in your agency? No strings attached--available today--where would you use that sudden infusion of capital? That's the 1st of our Fast Five questions you've likely heard us ask before on every episode of this show. Last week we had the chance to ask this same question to more than 20 agency owners and their team members while several members of the Teamwork.com team descended on Boston for INBOUND 23.

Do you feel the pressure of having to rely almost solely on word of mouth and referrals to continue growing your agency? If so, you're not alone. Even if you have all the systems and capabilities to grow your agency, you may not be effectively marketing your firm...and it's often for a common reason: You've become an "interchangeable agency.".

Watch the full podcast episode at https://www.youtube.com/watch

#rework #smallbusiness #smallbusinesstips #37signals #podcast #projectmanagement #sellingabusiness

Over 1/3 of agencies frequently struggle with overservicing clients. You’ve likely felt the pain yourself. When projects are going well out of scope and things are taking longer than your team planned, it can have a major impact on your agency’s profitability. Alyson Caffrey, Founder & COO of Operations Agency, has identified the 5 biggest scoping mistakes across dozens of agencies that are often leading to this overservicing problem–and ultimately underperforming profit margins.

We just revamped an essential part of HEY — working with long email threads. Before, clicking one entry expanded all of them, which was disorienting. Now you can take a peek into individual messages in a thread, and the rest stay in place. HEY now reliably detects previous replies and tucks them away until you need them. Previous content will be collapsed, making reading and replying easier.