Explore every episode of the podcast Empowered Agency Podcast

I’ve lived with this tension between agency owner and digital marketer for most of my agency career. Just this last year I’ve been able to identify the tension and figure out where I land. 

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When you’re an accidental entrepreneur it’s important to look back on how something that was accidental has changed who you are and what you’ve become. I think it’s important because we often grow in ways we don’t realize, or discover gifts we didn’t know we had. If we don’t celebrate those moments we’re missing the growth journey and self-discovery. 

If you’re looking for an 1 hour consult with someone who has gone before you in running an agency, I’m open. Go to kateahl.com and click on 1-1 consult and book a time with me. I’d love to help you troubleshoot a few areas of struggle in your business. 

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It’s almost a new year and people and business are in planning mode. Ready to bring the energy into a new year with hopes of it being better than the last.

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Here are the systems and apps that we use for communiation within our team. I’ve heard tons of different models used. What you’ll have to do is test something and figure out what does and does not work for you. 

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This week I tackle a listener question from Debbie all about how to care for your team and show them that you appreciate them. 

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On a recent podcast, I was blown away by a quote that helped me think about leadership in a whole new light. Here’s my thoughts on that quote and how you can implement this philosophy into your team, regardless of the size. 

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Sometimes you just know when it’s time to let go of a client, but honestly, it’s tough. You need the money, but you don’t want to take money from someone when it not working, so how do you let them go with honest, integrity, and amicably. We’re answering a listener question in today’s podcast. 

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In this interview we’re talking with one of our students about her recent pivot to adding more services and a retainer model that is helping her stay afloat during this weird economic times. 

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I asked for some ideas for the podcast in season 7 and this first response from a listener is all about the see-saw of hiring. Specifically when you’re trying to bring in more work but you need to staff up or down depending on the work. I’ll share my story of growth with team and how we look at it now almost 10 years into the agency. 

If you want to know when you can join Agency Pro make sure you sign up for our newsletter at kateahl.com/subscribe.

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In this interview I bring you an interview with one of my Agency Pro students, Jen Vazquez. I always think it’s important to tell stories of agency owners that we can be encouraged and take pieces of wisdom away for our journey from their stories. 

This season we’re going to take on a few different topics ranging from team, interviews with Agency Pro students, economic struggles, and where we’re going in 2024. I’d love it if you would share, pass onto friends.

I have a newsletter that comes out every Sunday as a reminder of the podcast and maybe a quick tip or two. To join go to kateahl.com/subscribe or click the link below in your podcast app. 

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This is going to get a little personal but I think it’s important as we’re not always able to separate business and personal. Some of what we’re going through seeps into our business and it takes it on as well. A recap of my summer, growing out my grey hair, and my hesitation to show my face online. 

If you want to be the first to hear when my self-study Pinterest Agency Pro course opens, sign up for my newsletter at kateahl.com/subscribe.

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Kicking off season 7 we’re tackling the topic of what motivates you as an agency owner when it comes to money. Is that the filter you use when you make your money decisions. Is your personal salary, company profit, or something else the number you look at. 

This season we’re going to take on a few different topics ranging from team, interviews with Agency Pro students, economic struggles, and where we’re going in 2024. I’d love it if you would share, pass onto friends.

I have a newsletter that comes out every Sunday as a reminder of the podcast and maybe a quick tip or two. To join go to kateahl.com/subscribe or click the link below in your podcast app. 

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We recently did an in-person sponsorship at a conference. It felt like a really big risk. Here are the details and what we learned from the experience. 

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I don’t love the word sales. It feels slimy. But in reality what we are all doing is selling our services and sometimes that comes with objections. Here are a few tips I have for sifting through what’s you and what’s them. 

Needs sales training, check out Sales Maven Society

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It’s a little scary to attend conferences, especially if you don’t know anyone. Not only are you worried about who you’ll talk to but is the investment going to be worth it. I’m sharing a little bit about my experience with conferences as well as an upcoming opportunity for you to attend an agency conference I’ll be speaking at. 

Link to Agency Live October 17, 18, 19 2023

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When business has been on an upward trajectory it’s hard to shift gears when you’re hit with a couple of down years. Here is where I’m at with getting small in the midst of learning how to do it myself. 

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I have been running my agency for 9 years. In that time I’ve take 5-6 days without internet connection and complete unplugging. I like to take Saturdays to unplug as well but nothing ever this long, without my computer, no slack, and completely unplugged. I needed it…but I don’t know if it would be possible 5 years ago. Here’s more to the story. 

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When you’re an accidental business owner and you’ve grown a successful business, it’s easy to lose sight of your origin days. You start to think you’ve got this thing in the bag and you know exactly what you’re doing. But ultimately, you’re just guessing. And so is everyone else. 

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Work with me:

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Executive Coaching

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Description for podcast notes: What’s ahead after a long winter and how I’m planning for the next few years. 

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This idea of swim lanes revolutioned my thinking of how I work in my company more so than an org chart. 

Not sure if you knew this but I offer 1 hour strategy calls for all types of agency owners. Let’s dig in on your business and give you 1-2 action items that move the needle forward in the next few months. Scroll below and book a call. 

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It’s finally time for the world to fully open up again and in person events are in full swing. Here’s a bit about my recent event and how I took advantage of my speaking to leverage not only the audience, the brands, and the sponsors.

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I have HATED linkedIn for years. Like loathed it. But now I’m embracing it and even find that it’s been fun. And a great place for clients. But it takes a bit to get into the groover. Here’s my story and hopefully you can get some ideas for yourself.

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With all the reorganization of the agency, staff, and priorities, I knew we had to take a long hard look at where we were spending time on promotion. That included pulling back on IG, the place I thought we were getting the most clients from. Turns out, it wasn’t. Here’s what we did to figure that out. 

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It’s hard to know how to navigate the rough waters in the moment because you’re tossed all around. But for me, right after that tumultuous moment, I got really clear on where we were going. We looked at the data instead of emotion. Cut programs, cut staff hours, and went for the long game instead of in the moment. Here’s a bit about my process.

Also, as some of you know I recently talked about leads and sales in a January masterclass. My friend Nikki Rausch runs a program called Sales Maven Society. She’s offering listeners 1 month free to her program. And Nikki is amazing at sales! She’s kind, listens to people, and I’m pretty sure she could get me to buy snow if it was outside my doorstep. She really is amazing. If you’re looking for help with sales and overcoming objections in your sales calls, Nikki’s program is worth a shot, especially with 1 month free! The link is in the description of the pod below. Just scroll down in your app.

Nikki’s program

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A line of credit is something I never considered for my business but the opportunity came to my door in December. This is what I did when faced with that option. 

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 I hosted my second masters retreat for agency owners last weekend. It was the same group that met in June and this time they elevated their growth even more. And they gave me new ideas for how I can continue to serve you.

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After telling you about my hard year in episode 1, let’s talk a little bit about the emotions that followed. I didn’t really settle into the proactive mode, I wanted to burn it all down. Then I realized that wasn’t the best plan.

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You’ve probably seen all the amazing graphics from companies with their 5-year plans. It looks amazing and perfectly mapped out. But what it doesn’t take into consideration is the labor and intensity it took for a team of people to get to that point. In this episode I’m giving you an alternative to strategic mapping that might work for your brain. One transformation by the end of the year.

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You’ve probably seen all the amazing graphics from companies with their 5-year plans. It looks amazing and perfectly mapped out. But what it doesn’t take into consideration is the labor and intensity it took for a team of people to get to that point. In this episode I’m giving you an alternative to strategic mapping that might work for your brain. One transformation by the end of the year.

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The back half of 2022 was hard and exhausting. It was a turn in the economy we had heard was coming but didn’t know what the extent would be. How would it affect service providers and agencies? Here’s a bit about my story and what I learned in the last year about how it 

I hosted my first masterclass of 2023 all about leads and the momentum and energy that came out of that was palpable. Students who attended got laser focused on what method they were going to use for leads and the energy leaving that call is being brought into 2023. If you’re looking to get updated on the next class make sure you join my newsletter at: kateahl.com/subscribe

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How do you know when it’s time to make an investment in your business? Whether it’s coaching, education, or tech here are a few things to ask yourself before you hit the buy button. 

Also, did you know i do 1-1 coaching? Funny story. One of my recent coaching clients asked me in September about a mastermind vs. coaching 1-1. I told her my experience and how this had impacted the growth of my business. My suggestion was to go with 1-1 coaching. She texted me the next day and said, “Why did you tell me you offered 1-1 coaching?!” 

Biggest reason, I didn’t want her to think I was selfishly telling her 1-1 coaching was a fit and then immediately sell her into mine. Yes, I know marketing is important but your busines is important to me as well. 

If 1-1 coaching is something you’re leaning into I would be honored to coach you. Fill out the form on my site and we can chat. I have room for 1 more client. We go in 3 month stretches so you can evaluate every 3 months if it’s worth your investment. Now onto talking about investments. 

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Are you overwhelmed by getting leads? Feeling tapped out on ideas for how to get them? Join me for a live, paid masterclass where we tackle 6 ways to grow your pipeline of high-quality leads on January 17th at 11 am eastern/1 pm pacific. This will be a super in-depth class to help agency owners and service providers learn new methods and ways to get more clients.

Go to kateahl.com/januaryworkshop to sign up now. 
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This is tough topic. No one likes firing, well maybe a few crazy people out there, but for the most part it’s a super painful part of business. You invested in someone, you thought it would work, and for some reason it’s falling apart. It’s important to not let things linger and fire fast. But it’s a little harder in real life.
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Growing and managing and agency is a grind. If you’re not careful you’ll burnout and find yourself completely unmotivated to do much. So how do you build in times for rest? It can be in the holiday weeks or simply taking one day off a week per month. There are a lot of creative ways to build in rest which will allow you to get refreshed and renewed to keep growing.
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Every team, regardless if you’re big or small, like to be shown appreciation. They want to know you see them, value their work, and that you want them around for a while. But if you’re not someone who notices that kind of thing or your tendency is just to assume people know you think they are awesome, you’ll need to put in a system for reminders. Here are some of the ways we invest in our team. 

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Feedback is hard to give to people, especially when it’s hard. But when you turn it into a lesson for both you and the team member it can become a powerful tool used for growth. So while not always easy, it’s one of the most helpful ways to build a loyal and cohesive team. 

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It’s really easy to put all your energy into hiring and then get relaxed when it comes to training. You see this person as competent,  you’re tasting freedom and moving into a new position and it’s tempting to cut corners. Don’t. You’ve just invested time and energy into interviewing, this can keep people in your circle for a long time and build loyalty. Keep running the race and serve your new employee or contractor by training them well.

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Hiring is a learned skill for your agency. I hate to tell you this but you’re going to make some mistakes and from those mistakes learn what you want in your hiring. In this episode, I’ll give you some history as to how I hired in the beginning and what we do now. Make sure you’re signed up for our email list at kateahl.com/subscribe.

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I’m far from the legal expert in this space but I want to share my experience and story so you can glean some wisdom and figure out what path is right for you. 

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Hiring your first team member can be scary. You have a ton of fears, questions, worries, and more when it comes to handing over some of the responsibility to someone else. You might even have some control issues and worry tremendously about if they screw up. Before you make your first hire get these things squared away and you’ll be set up for success.

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There are a lot of failures in business. One of the sayings we have in our agency is “fail forward”. Accept the loss, learn what you can and do better on the other side. Not only does it save us all from the shame storm but takes something that was super hard and makes it productive.

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I always find sharing the little things we do in our business to be fun and exciting for others who haven’t thought of it before. This is a little track hack I’ve been doing in my business now for 4 years and it’s been fun to reap the benefits. 

If you haven’t grabbed my free Dream Client Playbook the scroll below in your podcast player to snag it now for free. It’s a 4-part series + PDF that will walk you through the steps I take to find my ideal clients and stop saying yes to those who aren’t a great fit. It’s a private podcast series you can only get by signing up so make sure you grab it now. 

Dream Client Playbook

More info about the Chase card I have. 

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When you’re just starting out there are a lot of things you want to offer client, especially when they ask for it. You’re in service mode and creating something new makes sense. But if you’re a couple years in and you still have that service listed, is it still beneficial to your agency? In this podcast we deep dive into knowing when to remove a service from your offer list. 

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Are agency owners really short-changing themselves by trading time for dollars? It’s a phrase the online industry has used for a while but it has roots in some interesting places not built for agency owners. So let’s dive into what it means and what you can do to figure out what your time is worth.

Onboarding is where your clients can get buyer's remorse. If you skip the important steps to caretake for them and lead them through the process you’ll lose out on their trust and pave the way for a bumpy relationship going forward. 

Onboarding is KEY! It's not only a time for your client to hand over the check but it's also a time for you to show them how you'll wow them. How your services are a step above the rest. They are clear, provide leadership, and comfort that they made the right decision.

Take time out to either ask a friend to evaluate, learn from feedback and refine to be the best it can be. 

Running your own business is hard. When clients depend on your for the deliverables. Plus you’re the marketing person, and the visionary, and the team manager, it’s so much to straddle that at times it feels like you should just give up. Here are a few tips for navigating burnout.