The Builders Define Success on Your Terms: Setting the Baseline and Choosing Gratitude
In this solo episode of The Builders Podcast, host Matt Levenhagen shares a candid reflection on redefining success. After years of growth and managing a larger team, he faced the challenges of revenue flattening, downsizing, and recalibrating his vision. Instead of chasing an old 3–5M agency target, Matt reframes success around gratitude, retention, and daily delivery.
He dives into the realities of agency life in 2024/25, from the difficulty of letting people go to the joy of jumping back into code. Matt now thinks of his business less as an “agency” and more as a studio—lean, focused, and happy. By choosing gratitude first and growth second, he’s building a baseline that feels like success today, while still leaving the door open for future opportunities.
Key Takeaways
- Define your baseline. Decide what “enough” looks like and anchor to it.
- Gratitude first. Appreciate your contracts, relationships, and craft.
- Retention as strategy. Delight existing clients—quality is your moat.
- Adopt the studio mindset. Smaller core team, elastic talent when needed.
- Daily delivery matters. Measure success by what you ship each day.
- Growth is optional. Remove the stress of chasing constant scale.