The Agency Growth Podcast

Schieler Mew, founder of Service Lifter and admin of the 120k-member Google SEO Mastermind group, built a multi-million dollar SEO agency serving local service businesses. He explains why a productized, lower-ticket model can scale to seven figures. Short takes cover pricing strategy, niche focus, client acquisition tactics, and team/process decisions that make volume-friendly services work.

We've been seeing a lot of people in Facebook groups talking about how they're building funds by white labeling their services for other agencies or getting involved with setting and closing to "get money to start their agency".But that begs the question, "how much money do you need to start an agency?"If you're familiar with our earlier episodes, you know about how much you need -- but in this episode, we go into other objections we've been seeing like "I don't have time to start an agency on the side, I need to quit my job and I have to have money for that."Additionally, we spend a good amount of time talking about how the idea of passive income is mostly bulls**t and expose some telltale signs of fake online gurus, specifically in the crypto and real estate spaces.----------------------------------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: @agencyuTwitter/X: @theagency_uLinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyuFacebook: facebook.com/theagencyuInstagram: @theagencyuReddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundleyTikTok: @agency.u

We stress the importance of niching down when it comes to creating your own marketing or consulting agency, especially in such a crowded industry, but we've never gone into how to pick your niche.Granted, niching down isn't for everyone -- but if it is for you, then you'll want to hear what we have to say regarding picking your niche.Too often we see people default to the same few niches (real-estate, roofing, dentists/medical, other agencies), but you need to be more creative than that. There are also other factors you should consider when picking your niche that you might not be thinking of:Are you familiar with the niche? If not, you have a lot of learning to do.Does the niche have a high market cap in your area? If there isn't a lot of money in the niche, you can spend years working only to cap out in a small market (small gym owners)Do forums and publications exist for business owners exist in this niche? If not, you'll have to figure out how you're going to get in front of these people.What does the competition look like? This is my least favorite thing to look at but if you see a lot of competition, then it could be too saturated, especially based on the market cap. If you don't see any competition it good either be really good or really bad. It's really bad if there is no competition for a reason (as in no money in that niche).What is the best way to promote to business owners in the niche and does it match your skillset?Do you even like the niche? If you don't inherently like the niche, you won't like your life after you pursue it. Creating a successful agency takes time and hard work. You're not going to flip it in a year -- your niche will become your career for the next 5-10 years or more.It's also important to remember to not spend too much time overthinking. You can do multiple niches at once and figure out what you like along the way, but some preliminary research will go a long way.Here's some homework for you:Find 5 niches you're interested in.Find online forums or groups for business owners in this niche.Find magazines/publications specifically for business owners in this niche.List strengths and weaknesses for working with these niches (Example: high average profit for businesses and high market cap versus no online forums or publications for business owners in the niche)List barriers of entry for business owners in these nichesOnce you do this, you'll help narrow down which niche(s) you should start with.----------------------------------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: @agencyuTwitter/X: @theagency_uLinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyuFacebook: facebook.com/theagencyuInstagram: @theagencyuReddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundleyTikTok: @agency.u

A few episodes back we dropped episode 35 on how to get published in a niche magazine -- the problem with that is figuring out what to write for that magazine that resonates with that audience.This is something everyone who produces content asks themselves."Should I publish this content on my own site or should I give it to a publication?"The default answer is to usually give the least impactful or the lowest quality content to the magazine as all you're looking to do is get the branding and the link that comes with it. However, oftentimes, this is the opposite of what you should.For starters, ALL of your content should be high quality. Second, this was the #1 way we got most of our leads back when we first started.When you don't have a large audience coming on to your site, you can leverage the audience of a publisher and get your great content in front of that audience.In this episode, we dive into how we determine what piece of content goes on our site and what should be pitched to a publisher. Sometimes, we write the piece first and then decide after it's written.It's all about what it's about and who the audience is better suited for:Someone on our site looking for this informationOr someone not looking for the information but should be aware of it----------------------------------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: @agencyuTwitter/X: @theagency_uLinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyuFacebook: facebook.com/theagencyuInstagram: @theagencyuReddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundleyTikTok: @agency.u

We read a listener's question regarding how they can turn their graphic design skills into a service where they can work for themselves rather than someone else.In the past, we've mentioned how it's really hard to turn graphic design services into something that people want to buy every month multiple times. In other words, it's a service you have to keep selling over and over again which makes it really hard to scale and requires you to constantly be looking for new opportunities.The question comes from someone who doesn't want to do that but still wants to utilize their passion and experience in graphic design.Join us in this episode where we give our individual inputs on how we would use this skill as a productized service for an agency or freelance concept that keeps clients paying every month. Not only that, but a service that clients find value in and you don't have to keep selling your value to existing clients.HINT: Don't think about how you can provide graphic design services to clients... think about how you can use graphic design in the services you provide.----------------------------------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: @agencyuTwitter/X: @theagency_uLinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyuFacebook: facebook.com/theagencyuInstagram: @theagencyuReddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundleyTikTok: @agency.u

This week, Jake and Cody talk about the different digital agency roles at an agency and how each of them can break off into their own freelancing gig.Not all roles are created equally. Some can transition smoothly into freelance work like SEO, PPC, and Social Media Management. But what about other roles like graphic design, content writing, or account management? How can these roles at existing agencies break off and start their own thing?Jake discusses his role as an account manager and what he had to do to form Evergrow Marketing. Together, we discuss the upsides and downsides to working in these different roles as an agency as well as the struggles you might encounter with each skill set when attempting to freelance your skills.This episode is ultimately a precursor to the one that will follow, where we receive a listener's question on how to take his graphic design skills and his current role and turn it into a productized service that clients will want to pay for every month on retainer.As always, if you enjoyed this episode or any others, leave us a review on Spotify or Apple podcasts. It helps us get found and moves our podcast up in the search algorithm.----------------------------------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: @agencyuTwitter/X: @theagency_uLinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyuFacebook: facebook.com/theagencyuInstagram: @theagencyuReddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundleyTikTok: @agency.u

There is clearly a different mindset between successful and unsuccessful agency owners. The main difference is you don't typically hear a lot coming from successful owners. The unsuccessful ones tend to share "Mindset" status updates and project to the world everything they're doing in what seems like a call for attention.If this is you, that's okay. Jake was like this when he first started his agency journey. It wasn't until the cruel world of owning your own marketing agency beat him into submission.Today, Jake and Cody are here to suggest who you should be surrounding yourself with when pursuing growth for your own agency as well as who you should probably consider cutting out of your life (or at least your immediate circle).Also, it's worth mentioning, that you should make sure that you're not the toxic one before assuming other people are toxic for your growth. We've found that most people who subscribe to the "if they're not with me, they're against me" mindset are the most toxic and unsuccessful bunch of people.----------------------------------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: @agencyuTwitter/X: @theagency_uLinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyuFacebook: facebook.com/theagencyuInstagram: @theagencyuReddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundleyTikTok: @agency.u

We've said it before, but getting published in magazines and other industry publications has been one of the biggest game changers for our agency in terms of leads we've received, sales we've closed, and authority we've built. It's been the single most important thing that has set our brand apart from other agencies in the space.It's a topic we've considered doing for a while. Getting articles published in niche magazines and publications is one of Jake's unique talents. Whether it's an SEO publication, a lawn and landscape magazine for Evergrow, or even a restaurant industry magazine for a specific client, finding the right people to send the pitch to and crafting the right message comes naturally to him.In this episode, Jake recaps the difference between guest posting and contributing to an actual publication while breaking down his exact steps for reaching the right person at a publication and getting them to publish your article.The shortlist of the steps covered here are:Figure out which publications you want to be inPitch easier publications first and build a reputationSearch for a contribution pageResearch their guidelinesFind the editing team and their contactsReach out to the right editorPitch (or supply) the articleLeave out the sales and promotional contentGive exclusivityFollow up, follow up, follow upWant a list of publications Jake has been featured in? Check out his author page.Have a specific question about today's topic? Maybe you need some advice on how to get into a certain publication. Send an email to us on our contact page by filling out the form.For all news marketing and SEO, check out Jake and Cody's favorite email newsletter----------------------------------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: @agencyuTwitter/X: @theagency_uLinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyuFacebook: facebook.com/theagencyuInstagram: @theagencyuReddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundleyTikTok: @agency.u

Reporting to you from Cartagena, Colombia! In this episode, we host our first-ever recording in person while on our trip to Colombia! With that in mind, we did want to let you know the audio quality isn't great. However, there is a wealth of knowledge and insight into exactly how big or small we are and how we're able to accomplish the things we do at our size.We'll go over exactly what our 2022 revenue and profit numbers were as well as our growth rate year-over-year. If you're good at math, you can figure out what we did in 2021 as well.This episode isn't to brag about how much money we made -- it's to be transparent with our listeners in showing that we're not as big as you might think yet are able to still live comfortably, have a healthy amount of money in the bank, take above average US salaries, and still have the business pay for not only us but our fiancées trip to Colombia for 7 days.So if you're just starting your journey or have even been at it for a little bit, just know that the above is a lot more attainable and practical than you might realize.Have a question or just want to reach out? Hit us up at everbrospodcast.com/contact-usWant to know how we stay up to date on the latest marketing trends and topics? Check out the newsletter we read every morning: https://www.stackedmarketer.com/friend-recommended/?utm_source=sparkloop&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=sm_daily&rh_ref=9731be28

Productizing and packaging services isn't a business model for everyone. For us, it is. It's been very fruitful and scalable and clients seem to love it. But just because you package a service together doesn't mean it will sell or even be successful.We found a few of our productized services failing to meet expectations or just outright sucking. We've since learned from those mistakes and even refuse to offer requested services until we've thoroughly tested them and are able to put them into a scalable, packaged service.The trick is finding a service offering that is not only appealing, but scalable, profitable, and consistently delivers objective value in terms of your clients' target KPIs.Here is the link to the marketing newsletter we both recommend: https://cm.wtaff.co/t/j-l-zkyijul-iuuhgdutl-jy/----------------------------------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: @agencyuTwitter/X: @theagency_uLinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyuFacebook: facebook.com/theagencyuInstagram: @theagencyuReddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundleyTikTok: @agency.u