The Agency Profit Podcast Achieving More Freedom as a Creative, With Matt Essam
Sep 3, 2025
42:34
Points of Interest
- 00:00 – 01:09 – Introduction: Marcel introduces guest Matt, founder of The Creative Life and bestselling author, highlighting his mission to help creatives design businesses that align with their lifestyles.
- 01:14 – 02:24 – Coaching High-Level Creatives: Matt explains his role as a coach for award-winning creatives seeking fulfillment beyond the hustle, sharing examples of clients from Disney, Spotify, and the music industry.
- 02:39 – 05:00 – Early Career and First Business: Matt recounts his start in advertising agencies, the launch of his own creative business, and his pursuit of a digital nomad lifestyle inspired by The 4-Hour Workweek.
- 05:00 – 07:28 – Incongruence of Success and Fulfillment: While achieving his dream of running a remote business, Matt realized his work lacked meaning and fulfillment, sparking a personal crisis after the sudden loss of a family friend.
- 07:57 – 10:46 – Discovering Core Values: Through coaching, Matt identified that fulfillment comes from emotional states like freedom, impact, and significance, which guided his transition into life coaching for creatives.
- 12:02 – 15:47 – Three Core Challenges for Creatives: Matt outlines the main struggles creatives face: lack of differentiation, poor communication of value, and inability to scale delivery beyond the founder.
- 18:03 – 20:56 – Differentiation Through Unique Experience: Matt introduces the idea of standing on a “mountain of value,” emphasizing that personal stories and experiences create unique positioning for creative businesses.
- 21:38 – 24:00 – The Four P’s of Positioning: Matt shares his framework for differentiation—Person, Problem, Promise, and Process—illustrated with a case study of a former Spotify designer who grew by niching into music tech branding.
- 26:26 – 28:22 – Communicating Value Through Symptoms: Matt explains why creatives must focus on client symptoms rather than their own services to attract higher-quality clients earlier in the buying journey.
- 30:28 – 34:52 – Shifting the Sales Approach: Marcel and Matt discuss how education and thought leadership build trust, while Matt emphasizes the importance of mastering sales conversations to accelerate client acquisition.
- 35:32 – 37:20 – Building Scalable Delivery Systems: Matt describes how to design repeatable processes that move clients from current challenges to desired outcomes, enabling agency founders to step back from daily delivery.
- 39:38 – 42:26 – Final Advice and Resources: Matt promotes his upcoming book The Creative Studio Roadmap and diagnostic tool and encourages creatives to intentionally design businesses that bring freedom, fulfillment, and financial security.
Show Notes
- Connect with Matt via:
- Matt’s One Page Sales Framework
- Creative Courage Podcast: 3 Strategies To Skyrocket Your Agency’s Profit with Marcel Petitpas
- New Book Tool: Quiz Tool
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