319. Scaling Up Without Burnout, with Jesse Gilmore

On this episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast Sharon Toerek chats with Jesse Gilmore, Founder of Niche In Control. Jesse opens up about his journey from entrepreneurial burnout to building agencies that scale sustainably, without sacrificing sanity or freedom.

He shares powerful lessons on the mindset shifts that turn overwhelm into momentum and breaks down why adding more people isn't always the answer to growth. Jesse reveals how systemizing your agency can help you reclaim your time, empower your team, and finally build the freedom-filled business you set out to create.

What you will learn in this episode:

• Why adding more people won't fix owner exhaustion and where agency leaders should look instead

• How to identify and eliminate "single points of failure" in your agency workflow

• A proven framework for deciding whether your agency needs more team members or just better processes

• What to do before you make that next hire

• The principles behind designing a minimally viable offer to maximize value and margin

• Why specializing and moving away from a generalist model is critical for agency scalability

• How to leverage automation and AI tools wisely, without losing control or compromising quality

Bio

Jesse Gilmore is the Founder and CEO of Niche in Control. He helps digital marketing agency owners escape the chaos of daily operations and build a business that scales without them, so they can finally step into the CEO role that they were meant for.

Before starting Niche in Control, he dissolved three of his own businesses. He was working 60- to 80-hour weeks, completely burned out and stuck in the same trap that he now helps his clients escape. It wasn't until he spent five years in corporate America—leading over a hundred projects and building systems that supported a $180 million acquisition—that he realized the missing piece: systems, leverage, and self-leadership.

Since launching Niche in Control, he has helped over 90 agency owners double their revenue, build self-sufficient teams, and create predictable growth without sacrificing their time, their family, or their freedom. His framework, the Leverage for Growth Method, combines scalable systems, team empowerment, and consistent lead generation to help agency owners stop being the bottleneck and start leading a thriving business.

He's also the author of The Agency Owner's Guide to Freedom and host of the Leverage for Growth podcast, where he reverse-engineers agency success stories to help others grow with intention. His mission is simple: help agency owners reclaim their time, increase their impact, and finally build a business that works without them.

Resources:

• Website: https://www.nicheincontrol.com

• Live Events: https://events.nicheincontrol.com

• LinkedIn Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessepgilmore/

• LinkedIn Business: https://www.linkedin.com/company/niche-in-control/