The Agency Growth Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

For the first time in over 2 years of doing this podcast, we're covering mental health. Specifically our own experiences with it as agency owners.

We're covering both perspectives of coming into agency ownership with pre-existing mental health issues as well as developed ones from the natural stressors that come with operating an agency and business in general.

We both deal with our own very separate issues. It's not just depression. It's anxiety, imposter syndrome, body dysmorphia, anger, and more.

If you're struggling with something, perhaps hearing our own story and struggles will help in some way.

----------------------------------

Our recommended agency tools:

everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/

----------------------------------

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.

----------------------------------

Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, follow us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:

• Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
• Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
• Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
• Reddit: u/JakeHundley
• TikTok: @jakehundley

**Skip the fun stuff and get to the meat of the episode at 21:26**

The number one problem agencies seem to struggle with is getting clients. They often blame competition or not having a good enough value prop. But that's rarely actually the case.

Lacking basic business, marketing, and sales fundamentals is what's killing agencies and causing them to spin their wheels.

----------------------------------

Our recommended agency tools:

everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/

----------------------------------

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.

----------------------------------

Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, follow us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:

• Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
• Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
• Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
• Reddit: u/JakeHundley
• TikTok: @jakehundley

**Cold Open (A question for the listeners)**

**Skip the Cold Open at 16:25**

Whether you write content for your clients or you write content for yourself, writing good content for SEO is a must for every agency owner.

And As Google pumps more and more spam updates into their algorithm their answer to everything seems to just be "write good content". But how do you write good content when the purpose is simply to get it to rank?

In this episode, we give you extremely simple tips on how each of us writes content that ranks in Google so that anyone who cares about what they write can get ranked.

----------------------------------

If there's anything we've learned about owning a digital agency, it's that your online security is #1. After facing a Facebook hack with the hacker spending $30,000 on our ads account in a matter of 2 days, we've partnered up with Aura to monitor our online presence and secure our accounts.

Secure yourself and your agency while supporting the podcast by running a scan of your personal information for free when you sign up for a free 14-day trial at aura.com/everbros.

You can also get up to 50% off security and monitoring plans with the same link after your trial expires!

----------------------------------

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.

----------------------------------

Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, follow us on YouTube, or connect with Jake on socials:

• Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
• Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
• Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
• Reddit: u/JakeHundley
• TikTok: @jakehundley

You might think saying "yes" to more jobs and custom client requests may grow your business, but in reality, it can set you up for failure.

One of the hardest things to do is to say "no" to a prospective client who is willing to give you their money for an ask or service that you either don't provide or haven't fleshed out yet.

Jake and Cody go through a few examples of how saying "no" is a much better solution than taking on a task you're either not prepared for or don't have the resources to execute effectively.

The easiest way to know if you should say "no" is if saying it pushes your business in the direction you want to take it. If saying "yes" to something moves your business in a direction that is counter to what your goals are, then you should have said "no".

----------------------------------

Our recommended agency tools:

everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/

----------------------------------

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.

----------------------------------

Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:

YouTube: @agencyu

Twitter/X: @theagency_u

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu

Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu

Instagram: @theagencyu

Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley

TikTok: @agency.u

The whole point most of us even started our agencies was to make money; so how can anything be more important than that?

Money doesn't mean anything if it isn't associated with the labor that's put into it. If you made $50,000 in one year, that doesn't seem like a lot -- that seems like a normal full-time salary. However, most people equate that to 40 labor hours per week.

$50,000 starts to look a lot different when you say you worked 80 hours that week to earn it. On the other hand, it looks like the opposite when you say you only worked 10 hours in a week to earn that same $50,000.

That $50,000 is worth a lot more in the 2nd scenario than it is in the first.

That's the whole principle of this episode. Labor Inventory.

If your business is making $100,000 per year but you're clocking in 6,000 labor hours between you and your partner, you two have a better shot at making more money working full-time at McDonald's.

In this episode, we go over:

• A healthy labor rate (including what we are doing)
• How we assess labor hours given a service for a client
• How we allocate available employee labor hours versus leaving space for internal labor hours (60% client, 40% internal)

Knowing our labor rates and available labor inventory lets us know:

• When we're stretching our employees thin
• When we need to hire
• How much we can pay our employees or how high we can give raises
• how valuable and how profitable our company is

----------------------------------

Our recommended agency tools:

everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/

----------------------------------

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.

----------------------------------

Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:

YouTube: @agencyu

Twitter/X: @theagency_u

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu

Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu

Instagram: @theagencyu

Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley

TikTok: @agency.u

Whether or not you should have a business partner seems to be a hot topic lately both in our industry and in the industry we serve. It seems like the vote is heavily weighted towards not having a business partner.

Obviously, we don't necessarily agree with that sentiment. We do, however, think there are situations where you probably should partner with someone -- and that includes:

• Friends
• Family
• People with the same skills as you
• People who don't have a good work ethic

The last one is a given, but people typically miss out on the second to last. If you partner with someone who has the same skill set as you, you're not really adding value. You're just adding someone who can do the work you're already doing.

Cody handles all of the internal and operational things (invoicing, processes, training, workflows, etc). Jake handles, sales, marketing, client communication, big picture, etc). Both skill sets are completely different and require different mentalities. Both of which complement each other. 

That's just one reason our partnership works great.

It's worth it to mention that Cody and I weren't friends before we started this business. We were work acquaintances from a few years back. It was through business that we found friendship. Not the other way around; and that's important.

----------------------------------

Our recommended agency tools:

everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/

----------------------------------

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.

----------------------------------

Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:

YouTube: @agencyu

Twitter/X: @theagency_u

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu

Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu

Instagram: @theagencyu

Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley

TikTok: @agency.u

We have a bit more fun during this episode and occasionally go down rabbit holes of rants regarding how there can be a misconception about how easy and laid-back remote work is.

Working remotely for yourself and with your team has its perks but it also has its drawbacks as well. On one hand, you can celebrate things like being able to work wherever you want and sometimes (whenever you want). On the other hand, it's difficult to delineate what is and isn't work if you don't have a physical place you do it at. Additionally, you and your team have to be disciplined. It's easy to get distracted when no one is watching over your shoulder and you intentionally put yourself in distracting situations.

In this episode, Cody goes deeper into how people you hire may like the idea of working remotely, but once they realize what it entails, they'll find out it's not for them and leave.

He also rants about how the term "cultural fit" seems to just be an unintentional war on blue-collar jobs and discusses how awkward the first time answering a business phone call for him was.

----------------------------------

Our recommended agency tools:

everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/

----------------------------------

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.

----------------------------------

Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:

YouTube: @agencyu

Twitter/X: @theagency_u

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu

Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu

Instagram: @theagencyu

Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley

TikTok: @agency.u

A recession is the hot topic today as we head into the end of Q3 looking at two consecutively "down" quarters. When recessions hit, people and businesses get tighter with their money and non-essential services are cut. As a marketing agency, we're often seen as a "non-essential" service (which is odd to us), but as much as we don't want it to be, it's the truth.

However, not all businesses and industries are affected by recessions -- some even boom. Both the industry we market for and our business saw huge growth spurts during COVID. Although not a recession, we still saw the same money tightening and job displacement you typically see in one.

Having said that, we felt like this was an important topic to cover for new and experienced agency owners who are wondering what a recession is going to mean for their business.

In this episode, we dive into:

• The pros and cons of a recession (yes, there are pros for some people and businesses)
• What industries are and aren't affected
• How you can recession-proof your agency such as:

1. Creating low-cost services to draw-in revenue from scrappier clients
2. Creating and defining services that are needed (administrative) rather than sought after (ROI-focused)
3. Picking a recession-proof agency
4. Segmenting & protecting your money
5. Continuing to stay lean, not because you're in a recession, but because it's just smart in general

----------------------------------

Our recommended agency tools:

everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/

----------------------------------

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.

----------------------------------

Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:

YouTube: @agencyu

Twitter/X: @theagency_u

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu

Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu

Instagram: @theagencyu

Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley

TikTok: @agency.u

You're going to face competition no matter the niche or the industry you're in. It's inevitable. But competition isn't something you should be afraid of for a few reasons:

1. There are plenty of fish out there
2. Competition can be friendly and even rewarding
3. People don't like your competition
4. People have also never heard of your competition (no matter how big they seem to be)

What Cody and Jake have found is that they really just simply don't believe in competition. Worrying about "competitors" only raises your anxiety and causes you to copy them. You'll never be better than them if you just copy them.

Also, Cody gives tips on wrist exercises and used to drive a crappy Buick named Linda.

----------------------------------

Our recommended agency tools:

everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/

----------------------------------

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.

----------------------------------

Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:

YouTube: @agencyu

Twitter/X: @theagency_u

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu

Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu

Instagram: @theagencyu

Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley

TikTok: @agency.u

There's a belief out there that in order to be successful in your entrepreneurial endeavors, you have to quit your full-time job and dedicate your life to your business. This just isn't true.

Often times people equate the first level of success in an entrepreneur's lifecycle to when the income from the side hustle replaces the income of their day job. Although that is a great milestone, it isn't what defines your first level of entrepreneurial success.

With the right systems and processes in place, your side hustle can equal the income from your day job without you having to leave your day job and have it only increase from there while putting in only a fraction of the time. All the benefits of scaling your own thing with the security and stability of a full-time job. 

This is especially helpful and more appealing to those of us who have families to take care of. Sometimes leaps are stupid. Sometimes they're lucky. But in our opinion, leaps are rarely smart -- it just pays to have luck on your side if you do need to make a leap rather than a calculated step.

----------------------------------

Our recommended agency tools:

everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/

----------------------------------

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.

----------------------------------

Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:

YouTube: @agencyu

Twitter/X: @theagency_u

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu

Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu

Instagram: @theagencyu

Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley

TikTok: @agency.u