The Agency Growth Podcast

We received an inquiry from a listener asking about how he could deal with contractors who weren't completing basic tasks such as time tracking.We decided to make this episode completely on how we handle not only underperforming contractors but employees as well. Ultimately, it starts at the hiring process and we get into why and how we pick our team but we also give really useful tips on how to manage team members when they aren't performing well or doing basic tasks or repeatedly missing something.----------------------------------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 or connect with Jake on socials:Twitter/X: @HundleyJakeLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/Reddit: u/JakeHundley

**Cold Open (The Russell Brunson thing... again)****Skip the Cold Open at 5:00**Google is picking a fight with us and suspending ad accounts over their own platform errors.Having your ad accounts get denied, disapproved, or suspended is every agency's worst nightmare and it's happening to us right now.In this episode, we go over what's going on with Google Ads and how we're fighting back. We also stress the importance of not having all of your eggs in one basket. Thankfully doing so has kept us safe from the issue we're dealing with Google on for the most part.in the middle of the episode, Cody talks about the article that he wrote on his website regarding this whole situation in order to get Google's attention. You can read that here:"Google Suspended Our Google Ads Accounts Over Their Mistake"----------------------------------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 or connect with Jake on socials:Twitter/X: @HundleyJakeLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/Reddit: u/JakeHundley

**Cold Open (Russell Brunson Punches a Kid?)****Skip the Cold Open at 11:06**A lot of agencies out there seem to still be charging things in a manner that isn't really conducive to a scalable model. Ultimately, what it comes down to is that the agency's owner is still stuck in a freelancer mindset.In this episode, we really dive into what it takes to get out of the freelancer mindset and start charging prices and packaging your services correctly so you're not putting too much work into the services you're selling based on what you're selling them for.We also make sure to cover how freelancers can start charging prices accordingly to set themselves up for correct and fair agency prices, even as a solo operator.If you're charging $20/hr then just get a job. If you're charging $2,000/hr... who do you think you are?----------------------------------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 or connect with Jake on socials:Twitter/X: @HundleyJakeLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/Reddit: u/JakeHundley

**Cold open (Jake takes a deep dive into agency Reddit and it sucks)****Skip the Cold Open at 10:20**Last year, we recorded from our hotel in Colombia and recapped our finances from 2022 and how much we grew.This year, we're doing the same thing and recapping 2023. We had some explosive growth and also faced some challenges along the way that caused us to not grow as much as we wanted to.We also cover things we spent more on and things we spent less on.----------------------------------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 or connect with Jake on socials:Twitter/X: @HundleyJakeLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/Reddit: u/JakeHundley

**Cold Open (Jake has a question for the audience)**We keep seeing gurus make the money part of owning an agency really simplified. How money is spent and finances are handled in an agency at $10k/mo and at $100k/mo look very different but no one talks about it.Cody and Jake do a deep dive in how money looks at different levels of the business.----------------------------------⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐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 or connect with Jake on socials:Twitter/X: @HundleyJakeLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/Reddit: u/JakeHundley

**Cold Open (Jake and Lauren sneak onto First Class train in Japan)****Skip the Cold Open at 13:18**There seems to be some confusion around the practical application of having a CRM in an agency. Jake aims to clear that up in this episode.Aside from the typical derailments, Jake talks about:What a CRM technically is (you're probably already using one and don't even know it)Why you should be using a free CRM at firstHow Jake uses it on a daily basisHow it helps Jake close more sales----------------------------------⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐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 or connect with Jake on socials:Twitter/X: @HundleyJakeLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/Reddit: u/JakeHundley

**Cold Open (Jake and Cody talk about their Hubspot automation)****Skip the Cold Open at 7:08**There are many different lead generation agency models out there. On one hand, an agency can only be responsible for delivering leads. Another lead gen agency may also follow up with those leads for the client to make sure they close.We address why we don't like lead gen models in which it's the agency's responsibility to follow up with the leads.We also explain common objections to the idea of only supplying the leads and leaving the follow-ups and closing to the client such as:Knowing the close rate of the platforms you're driving leads on.Knowing your client's average close rates.Setting the right expectationsJake also explains that if you follow up and close leads for your client, you're taking a foot out of the marketing agency space and putting another in the "consulting and sales" space.----------------------------------⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐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 or connect with Jake on socials:Twitter/X: @HundleyJakeLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/Reddit: u/JakeHundley

**Cold Open (Cody's had his credit card hacked twice in two months)****Skip the Cold Open at 9:00**Jake and Cody answer the questions:What is networking?Who do you network with?Why should you network?For starters, it depends on what you're trying to do. Are you trying to grow your business or get better at growing your business? Because they're two different things.If you're trying to grow your business, Jake has tips and explains why you shouldn't care about networking with other agency owners. Instead, you should be networking with other professionals inside your niche that aren't agency owners.If you're trying to get better at growing your business, Cody talks tips and who to network with on the operations side... that is... other agency and business owners. But the challenge is knowing which agency owners to network with -- it's usually not the ones you meet online.----------------------------------⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐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 or connect with Jake on socials:Twitter/X: @HundleyJakeLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/

Ahrefs has been in the SEO community chatter quite a bit since the pricing model change so we thought it'd be good to bring Tim Soulo himself on the podcast to talk a little bit about the reasoning behind that.But we wanted to get more value out of the episode than that.In this episode, Tim gives us some useful keyword research tips both using paid tools as well as free tools and sheds some light on the accuracy... or lack thereof... when it comes to the metrics that SEO tools spit out including how inaccurate Google's owned tools' metrics such as Search Console and Keyword Planner.Tim uncovers how Ahrefs does keyword research for their own blog using "Business Potential" keywords and the downside of using Google's free keyword tools.Additionally, if you're a longtime listener of the podcast, you know that Cody and Jake have been pretty anti-paid tools when it comes to SEO and SEO research. In this episode, hear Tim counter Cody and Jake's argument on the idea that paid tools aren't necessary for new agency owners.----------------------------------⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐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.----------------------------------You can find Tim Soulo and Ahrefs at these profiles / locations:Twitter/X: @timsouloLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/timsoulo/YouTube: @AhrefsComWebsite: www.timsoulo.com/----------------------------------Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:Twitter/X: @HundleyJakeLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/

**Cold Open (Jake's optimal morning)****Skip the Cold Open at 3:06**We hear a lot of people quitting their day jobs in order to start an agency in which they have no experience -- only "knowledge" they've gained from online resources.To be frank, this is a dumb idea.We have grown our agency to near the half-million dollar mark while Jake still has a full-time day job. Doing this has allowed safe and steady growth while keeping full-time benefits and the same standard of living.So where do we find time to run a successful agency while also dedicating 40 hours per week somewhere else?Well, we tell you how we did it and continue to do it in this episode.----------------------------------⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐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 or connect with Jake on socials:Twitter/X: @HundleyJakeLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/