Agency Journey

In this episode, Kuba generates a list of client success tips using AI—and Gray critiques them and goes way deeper based on his hard-won experience in the agency space.Episode Insights:

“All of my successes massively outpace my capabilities. Like when you meet me, you're like, ‘I can't believe that guy did all the shit that he did’. Because I look homeless and I'm not really as bright as I pretend to be. I'm not self-deprecating—it's a fact. My success outpaces my capability because I found other people that were more capable than me."Kasim Aslam is the CEO of Solutions 8, co-founder of Driven Mastermind, and co-host of the Perpetual Traffic podcast. He has built four multi-million dollar agencies and had two exits, one of which was an eight-figure deal. Kasim's success in the agency world, particularly in the Google Ads space, and his ability to scale businesses with minimal initial capital make him an impressive figure in the industry.He’s also one of the most energetic and insightful guests this podcast has seen thus far.This episode of Agency Journey will be a perfect listen for agency owners and entrepreneurs looking to remove themselves from the business, identify and keep their most v

“Candidate expectations have certainly accelerated. There's a difference today versus 10 years ago in terms of what people's expectations are and how fast other processes are going. And so moving quickly is an advantage in a hiring process—and figuring out how to move quickly without sacrificing on the process is a little bit of an art.”In this episode, our very own Gray McKenzie discusses the process of hiring the right people for an agency. He shares his recent experience of hiring an Integrator and COO for ZenPilot, and all the small and big decisions that shaped the recruitment process. Gray explains the hiring framework we followed, the stages of the hiring process, the approach towards sourcing and screening candidates, and much more.A great listen for anyone looking to expand their team—it will help you craft a fast process that surfaces the best talent and captures it before it goes off the market.Episode Insights:

"I think the hardest thing that all HubSpot agencies are trying to solve for is… 500 product updates this year. How do you keep it all straight? How do you share that knowledge? How much knowledge do you have to know as a team, to what level? One thing that I practice and preach is: not everybody's going to know everything, but that collectively as a team and as an agency, we've got people in certain areas that are experts in those areas that we can rely on."Adam Sharrow is the founder of Process Pro Consulting, a HubSpot Diamond Partner agency specializing in technical implementation, optimization, and support for businesses using HubSpot.Drawing from his experience in building and scaling a successful HubSpot agency, Adam shares about navigating the challenges of growth, managing a team of experts, and staying ahead of the curve even as HubSpot releases 500+ product updates each year.This episode of Agency Journey will be perfect for agency owners looking to specialize in a specific niche, such as HubSpot c

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“In today's day and age people are scared to be measured. But your athletes, they love it because that's how they grew up. How do you know who are the best players on the team? You look at the box score, you look at the stat sheet. So I like bringing a sports mentality to everything I do.”Casey Cavell is a serial entrepreneur. He’s built a $40,000,000 portfolio from a $9,000 investment by founding, buying, or investing in dozens of small businesses over the last two decades.He also has personal experience with the kind of burnout that results from the business growing and relying too heavily on one person.Which is why he now focuses on helping companies simplify, focus, and get the business owner out of the day-to-day.This episode of Agency Journey will be perfect if you’re an entrepreneur thinking about investing in and increasing the value of other businesses; bringing in A-players; and mindfully delegating tasks until you’re left working on what you do best and love most.Episode Insights:

“I had bought into this idea that you had to sacrifice everything you had to kill yourself for growth. And it cost me dearly. I made some really poor decisions.”Carlos Hidalgo is co-founder & CEO of Digital Exhaust, a Utah-based data-driven, AI-enabled agency with a belief that "growth is a state of being, not just a goal to be achieved".But he's also a man with a dramatic story of putting his business ahead of his other life priorities—and learning some very hard lessons from that.This episode of Agency Journey will be a perfect reality check for agency owners, and an opportunity to re-assess the importance you should put on your agency relative to the current stage of your life journey.It will be especially relevant if you're balancing being a business owner with being a spouse, a parent, and a person driven by faith.Episode Insights:

“I have long seen myself as: I’m a very good marketer. I'm a very good communicator. I'm a good content creator. That's my lane. I know how to drive in that lane very, very well. And this has been a challenge for me to say: how do I become the best president, owner of a services business? Versus the best marketer anybody knows.”Ali Schwanke is founder and CEO of Simple Strat—a Diamond HubSpot Solutions Partner and premium B2B content marketing agency.You may know them from the HubSpot Hacks YouTube channel, the #1 unofficial source of HubSpot tutorials with over 20k subscribers to the channel.This episode will be a perfect listen for agency operators looking to find their perfect niche; discover content topics and formats that work on YouTube; and become a better leader by leveraging their unique leadership style.It’s also full of inspiration for owners considering making an exit from their agency.Episode Insights:

“If you don't like managing people, one of the things to consider is: do you want to run an agency? The management portion will never go away. But it also doesn't have to be so hard.”Karl Sakas, agency advisor and founder of Sakas & Company, has served as “agency therapist” for over 600 clients in 36 countries. He was also our recent guest on Agency Journey. His fourth time on the show!You can guess why we had Karl on so many times—his insights are always on point.If you want to work less and earn more, and be a better leader for your agency through cultivating personal relationships and intentional leadership training, this episode will be well worth a listen.Episode Insights:

“We all consider ourselves humble experts. So we all know that we're good at what we do, but ego does not get in the way around our workplace.”Arianne Foulks, CEO and founder of Aeolidia, a one-stop shop agency for creative ecommerce brands with 20+ years of market presence, was our recent guest on Agency Journey.If you want to build an efficient, adaptable agency that builds strong relationships with clients and employees—this episode will be perfect for you.Episode Insights:

[This is a special feature of Gray's recent appearance on Perpetual Traffic—reposted on the Agency Journey feed so you don't miss this informative discussion!]Kasim chats with Gray MacKenzie, the co-founder of ZenPilot, a company that helps agencies master project management. Gray reveals why project management is more than just software, and how to create effective processes and habits. He also shares how to set up your scorecard, track your client health, and deliver an awesome experience for your team and clients. Plus, he gives you the three secrets to project management success and how to avoid the most common mistakes.Chapters:00:00:00 - Introduction and Welcome00:01:59 - How to Calculate the ROI of Project Management00:07:20 - How Zenpilot Evolved Over 10 Years00:19:08 - How to Measure and Improve Client Health00:24:42 - The Three Keys to Making Project Management Work Well00:26:19 - How to Use ClickUp and Teamwork for Project Management00:28:16 - How to Define Your Scorecard and Track Your Progress00:

"Small groups of highly skilled, highly motivated, well communicating people can just achieve more than you can at a large organization."Jesse Resnick, co-founder of Ei Digital, a full-service digital agency, was our recent guest on Agency Journey.This episode is a must-listen for agency owners and managers looking to build a high-performing team culture.Episode Insights:

Is your agency prepared for the cookieless future that threatens to “tank” advertising performance?Paris Childress, CEO of SaaS-focused performance marketing agency Hop Online, was our recent guest on Agency Journey.He shared insights on crafting first-party data strategies that can help agencies avoid disrupted campaigns when third party cookies expire.Paris also discussed expanding service offerings with data science capabilities; making use of new privacy-focused technologies like his AI platform pLTV; specific and actionable personal branding tips; and optimizing operations with tools like ClickUp.Tune in if you want to ensure your agency has a plan to preserve ROI as the digital advertising landscape evolves.Episode Insights:

Want to take your agency to the next level? Learn how Matthew leveraged EOS, strategic partnerships, and custom ecommerce solutions to optimize operations and expand offerings over 9 years in business. His proven strategies can help your agency demonstrate ROI and pave the path to sustainable growth.Matthew McIver shares his journey evolving Commence Studio from a service-based creative agency into a productized business selling themes on Shopify.Learn how EOS and Traction shaped their growth, why they partner with larger firms, and how custom ecommerce sites demonstrate clearer ROI for clients.Matthew also explains how virtual tools like Float enable better financial visibility and why you should standardize systems instead of reinventing the wheel.Tune in for a transparent peek behind the scenes at an agency optimizing their operations and expanding their offerings over 9 years in business.Episode Insights:

Running a professional services agency? You need compelling case studies to close sales. But most video case studies end up dry, boring, and forgettable.So how do you create video case studies that captivate prospects and accelerate deals?In this episode of Agency Journey, host Gray MacKenzie interviews Ian Garlic, founder of Video Case Story. Ian shares his proven process for producing video case studies that get results. He also talks about writing a book, starting a partnership program, and much more.Episode Insights:

Running a marketing agency is hard. Running one remotely across several time zones? Even harder.So how do you keep a distributed team aligned, motivated, and growing together?In this episode of Agency Journey, host Gray MacKenzie interviews Janet Mesh, CEO and co-founder of Aimtal, a fully remote marketing agency. We dig into the keys that accelerated Aimtal’s growth over the past 5 years.Janet shares how Aimtal has doubled its team and revenue each year through an intentional focus on talent, culture, and streamlined operations.Episode Insights: Implementing clear processes and documentation enabled Aimtal to effectively manage a distributed team across 7 time zones Hosting immersive annual retreats reconnects their remote team and aligns everyone on vision and goals How Aimtal structures retreats to maximize bonding and alignment Focusing on talent, values, and culture fit over geography gives Aimtal access to the best talent globally The importance of intention in building a thriving remote agency and team

Ask any agency owner and they’ll tell you—growth doesn’t happen by accident. It takes strategy, systems, and support.So how do you choose the right blueprint to guide your agency’s growth? What if that blueprint could help you smash through plateaus and scale your team 10x?In this episode of Agency Journey, host Gray MacKenzie interviews Tyler Dolph, CEO of Rocket Clicks. We'll dig deep into how EOS(The Entrepreneurial Operating System) helped transform Rocket Clicks into the Agency that it is today.Episode Insights: How implementing EOS helped the agency establish clear roles, vision, and processes to enable growth Why focusing obsessively on client retention, not just sales, fueled sustainable growth The importance of Investing intentionally in culture like immersive onboarding and events strengthened their distributed team Strategies to analyzing top clients revealed their ideal target market to focus growth efforts AI offers opportunities to double down on human-centered strategies and relationships vs tr

Struggling to get your team aligned on goals and metrics? Wish your company culture was more productive and humane? Mark Abbott, founder and CEO of Ninety, shares how and the importance to implement tools to empower employees and build a resilient organization. In this episode, Mark discusses the specifics of designing effective scorecards, setting targets vs goals, and getting team member buy-in and so much more.Episode Insights: Why companies are complex adaptive systems. The best ones are explicit, coherent and resonant with all stakeholders. What mastery means being able to teach it to others - true understanding goes deeper than just reading a book. How to have Leadership through agreements is better than old school "command and control." Scorecards set targets to avoid micromanaging. Why having 3-5 KPIs per person (quality, quantity, process, show up) provides guardrails and autonomy. The importance on having a quality, quantity, process and show up element that can be measured in any role. Why focus on

In this episode, Kuba shares his vision for ZenPilot Marketing. He details his strategy to transition ZenPilot's perception from merely a ClickUp implementation partner to a team of agency operations experts. Kuba emphasizes the importance of promoting the ZenPilot team and using platforms like YouTube and LinkedIn to highlight their expertise and unique personalities, fostering a more connected audience.Kuba also offers valuable insights into "low-hanging marketing fruit" for agencies. He discusses the importance of investing in team development and leveraging their individual personalities to build a loyal audience. He highlights the value of using AI tools like ChatGPT for content repurposing, and encourages agencies to focus on creating high-quality content around crucial keywords.In this episode, you'll learn: Vision for ZenPilot Marketing Low-Hanging Marketing Fruit for Agencies The importance focus on creating one or a few pieces of high-quality content around important keywords. Why you need to invest

Do you struggle to create work that truly resonates with your audience? The ability to craft stories and messages that forge meaningful connections is what separates good creators from great ones. In today’s episode, host Gray MacKenzie sits down with storytelling expert Jay Acunzo.Jay Acunzo, The founder of the Creator Kitchen, a membership program helping you push yourself creatively. He's also an author, speaker, and host of the award-winning podcast Unthinkable, where creative people take us inside the unconventional choices they made to break from best practices.In this episode, you'll learn: How to resonate with your audience by crafting memorable stories Learn about posture and practice and what it means as an creative. The four ways to communicate with your audience. What stories should be focused on. How to practice crafting stories and work on developing your own narrative style. What does the Creator Kitchen community look like Jay's recommended people to follow The Unthinkable Podcast Process Pres