“All of my successes massively outpace my capabilities. Like when you meet me, you're like, ‘I can't believe that guy did all the shit that he did’. Because I look homeless and I'm not really as bright as I pretend to be. I'm not self-deprecating—it's a fact. My success outpaces my capability because I found other people that were more capable than me."Kasim Aslam is the CEO of Solutions 8, co-founder of Driven Mastermind, and co-host of the Perpetual Traffic podcast. He has built four multi-million dollar agencies and had two exits, one of which was an eight-figure deal. Kasim's success in the agency world, particularly in the Google Ads space, and his ability to scale businesses with minimal initial capital make him an impressive figure in the industry.He’s also one of the most energetic and insightful guests this podcast has seen thus far.This episode of Agency Journey will be a perfect listen for agency owners and entrepreneurs looking to remove themselves from the business, identify and keep their most valuable team members, and build the mindset that will take your operation to the next level.Kasim shared a whirlwind of inspiration, including but not limited to: the crucial differences between employees (farmers) and entrepreneurs (hunters); the power of offering equity to top performers; the importance of hiring people who can outperform you in their roles; and the benefits of seeking out hard challenges for personal and professional growth.Episode Insights:💡 Seeking a business mentor can provide valuable guidance and support in personal and professional growth.💡 Asking for help is essential and should not be seen as a sign of weakness. But you need to be humble and willing to do the hard work for others to decide to help you.💡 Seek out hard things for the sake of doing hard things.💡 People are the most important aspect of agency operations and can be the key differentiator in a competitive market. Incentivize and retain peak performers by offering profit share equity.💡 Surround yourself with people who are smarter and more capable than you in their respective roles to build a successful agency.💡 AI is a force multiplier of people—which can be both good and bad, making people even more important in business.💡 Understand that employees (farmers) and entrepreneurs (hunters) have different motivations and expectations, and build your business model accordingly.💡 Tying employee compensation directly to their output and the value they bring to the agency can help balance growth and profitability.💡 Success often outpaces an individual's capabilities because of the power of finding and cultivating talented people.Resourced Mentioned:📚 "No Locked Doors" by Gregory Smith📚 "You Versus Google" by Kasim Aslam📚 "Driven" by Douglas Brackmann and Randy Kelley🏢 Driven Mastermind, co-founded by Kasim Aslam: https://drivenmastermind.com/?utm_campaign=agency-journey-ep-292-kasim-aslam🏢 Solutions 8, Kasim's agency that he recently sold: https://sol8.com/?utm_campaign=agency-journey-ep-292-kasim-aslam🏢 Pareto Talent, Kasim's new venture focused on finding and training executive assistants and other roles for entrepreneurs🎙️ Perpetual Traffic, co-hosted by Kasim Aslam: https://perpetualtraffic.com/?utm_campaign=agency-journey-ep-292-kasim-aslam👤 Gregory Smith, Kasim's long-time business mentor: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregory1/👤 Erik Huberman, founder of Hawke Media https://www.linkedin.com/in/erikhuberman/LikeSubscribeHit the bellLeave a commentSay something nice to your neighborFollow+rate us on podcast platformsAnd don’t forget to floss!----------------------------------About ZenPilot:As ClickUp's first and highest-rated solutions partner, we've helped over 2,700 agencies streamline their operations in ClickUp. 📕 Get our ultimate "How to Use" ClickUp guide: https://www.zenpilot.com/clickup-guide?utm_source=youtube.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=agency-journey-ep-292-kasim-aslam🥇 Learn why ZenPilot is ClickUp's highest-rated solutions partner: https://www.zenpilot.com/clickup-consultant-and-highest-rated-partner?utm_source=youtube.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=agency-journey-ep-292-kasim-aslam💰 Uncover which clients, projects, and services are most profitable for your business with ZenPilot reports: https://www.zenpilot.com/agency-profitability-and-utilization-reporting?utm_source=youtube.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=agency-journey-ep-292-kasim-aslam----------------------------------⚡️ Want to see how your agency operations stack up against 2,000 other firms? take the 20-question benchmark: https://tools.zenpilot.com/pm-benchmark/?utm_source=youtube.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=agency-journey-ep-292-kasim-aslam📕 Download the 47-page guide on how to implement ClickUp for agencies: https://www.zenpilot.com/how-to-implement-clickup-for-agencies?utm_source=youtube.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=agency-journey-ep-292-kasim-aslam📨 Get biweekly agency ops insights from our newsletter: https://www.zenpilot.com/first-class-operations-newsletter?utm_source=youtube.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=agency-journey-ep-292-kasim-aslam🎁 FREE client onboarding ClickUp template for agencies: https://www.zenpilot.com/client-onboarding-clickup-template?utm_source=youtube.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=agency-journey-ep-292-kasim-aslam

Gray McKenzie discusses the art of hiring the right people for an agency, emphasizing the importance of moving quickly without sacrificing quality. The key insights include using the 'A Method for Hiring' framework, promoting job postings selectively, clear communication with candidates, and having a defined hiring process. The podcast also explores the challenges of hiring an Integrator, optimizing the hiring process, navigating recruitment for key roles, making effective hiring decisions, and optimizing the reference stage in the hiring process.

"I think the hardest thing that all HubSpot agencies are trying to solve for is… 500 product updates this year. How do you keep it all straight? How do you share that knowledge? How much knowledge do you have to know as a team, to what level? One thing that I practice and preach is: not everybody's going to know everything, but that collectively as a team and as an agency, we've got people in certain areas that are experts in those areas that we can rely on."Adam Sharrow is the founder of Process Pro Consulting, a HubSpot Diamond Partner agency specializing in technical implementation, optimization, and support for businesses using HubSpot.Drawing from his experience in building and scaling a successful HubSpot agency, Adam shares about navigating the challenges of growth, managing a team of experts, and staying ahead of the curve even as HubSpot releases 500+ product updates each year.This episode of Agency Journey will be perfect for agency owners looking to specialize in a specific niche, such as HubSpot consulting, and build a sustainable, scalable business model.You'll learn about the importance of conducting thorough client assessments, balancing quick wins with long-term strategic planning, and fostering a culture of knowledge sharing and expertise within your growing team.Episode Insights:💡 Challenges and strategies for running a HubSpot-focused agency—from a HubSpot Diamond Partner💡 The trajectory of HubSpot: where it’s going in the future, and how it relates to how Salesforce grew💡 The importance of a paid discovery/assessment—and seeing it through even when clients want to jump to solving specific issues💡 The capacity planning challenges created by month-to-month retainers (and how to mitigate them)💡 Staying on top of 500+ HubSpot product updates per year and managing collective internal expertise as you scale💡 Addressing the challenges of scaling from 5 to 10 to 15 people—and how it impacts which metrics you track💡 Specializing in your wheelhouse of expertise vs trying to solve everything + the benefits of partnering with other agencies for complementary needs💡 How to build sales pipeline as a HubSpot agencyResourced Mentioned:📚 Process Pro Consulting website 📚 Adam Sharrow on LinkedIn👉 Don’t forget to follow and rate us on your preferred podcast platforms. We’re also on YouTube: @ZenPilot

We’ve got an announcement to share about the future of the podcast.👉 Don’t forget to follow and rate us on your preferred podcast platforms. We’re also on YouTube: @ZenPilot

“In today's day and age people are scared to be measured. But your athletes, they love it because that's how they grew up. How do you know who are the best players on the team? You look at the box score, you look at the stat sheet. So I like bringing a sports mentality to everything I do.”Casey Cavell is a serial entrepreneur. He’s built a $40,000,000 portfolio from a $9,000 investment by founding, buying, or investing in dozens of small businesses over the last two decades.He also has personal experience with the kind of burnout that results from the business growing and relying too heavily on one person.Which is why he now focuses on helping companies simplify, focus, and get the business owner out of the day-to-day.This episode of Agency Journey will be perfect if you’re an entrepreneur thinking about investing in and increasing the value of other businesses; bringing in A-players; and mindfully delegating tasks until you’re left working on what you do best and love most.Episode Insights:💡 How Casey found underperforming businesses to acquire, and how he turned them into more systematic, process-driven organizations💡 Buying businesses outright vs coming in as an investor💡 Structuring equity/profit-sharing deals with clients—including earning trust with a 90-day initial engagement💡 How to prevent burnout by delegating tasks, hiring A-players, and removing reliance on the owner💡 The specific tasks entrepreneurs should delegate first💡 Defining what you want your business to do for your lifeResourced Mentioned:📚 Casey’s consulting business📚 Casey’s LinkedIn📚 The Dugout CEO podcast📚 The Friday Drive newsletter 📚 Books: Good to Great; Rich Dad Poor Dad; The E-Myth👉 Don’t forget to follow and rate us on your preferred podcast platforms. We’re also on YouTube: @ZenPilot

“I had bought into this idea that you had to sacrifice everything you had to kill yourself for growth. And it cost me dearly. I made some really poor decisions.”Carlos Hidalgo is co-founder & CEO of Digital Exhaust, a Utah-based data-driven, AI-enabled agency with a belief that "growth is a state of being, not just a goal to be achieved".But he's also a man with a dramatic story of putting his business ahead of his other life priorities—and learning some very hard lessons from that.This episode of Agency Journey will be a perfect reality check for agency owners, and an opportunity to re-assess the importance you should put on your agency relative to the current stage of your life journey.It will be especially relevant if you're balancing being a business owner with being a spouse, a parent, and a person driven by faith.Episode Insights:💡 The pivotal moments that reshaped Carlos's perspective on work-life balance and led him to reassess his priorities—including stepping down from one of his previous agencies.💡 Practical wisdom on setting non-negotiable boundaries, prioritizing well-being, and staying true to your business ethos.💡 Specific practices and habits Carlos introduced with his wife and himself to build a balanced and fulfilling life as an agency owner.💡 The virtues of being selective about what you're willing to invest yourself in, and how much.Resourced Mentioned:📚 Digital Exhaust 📚 The UnAmerican Dream by Carlos Hidalgo (book) 📚 Carlos' LinkedIn 🛠️ AI tools: Otter, ChatGPT, Jasper👉 Don’t forget to follow and rate us on your preferred podcast platforms. We’re also on YouTube: @ZenPilot

“I have long seen myself as: I’m a very good marketer. I'm a very good communicator. I'm a good content creator. That's my lane. I know how to drive in that lane very, very well. And this has been a challenge for me to say: how do I become the best president, owner of a services business? Versus the best marketer anybody knows.”Ali Schwanke is founder and CEO of Simple Strat—a Diamond HubSpot Solutions Partner and premium B2B content marketing agency.You may know them from the HubSpot Hacks YouTube channel, the #1 unofficial source of HubSpot tutorials with over 20k subscribers to the channel.This episode will be a perfect listen for agency operators looking to find their perfect niche; discover content topics and formats that work on YouTube; and become a better leader by leveraging their unique leadership style.It’s also full of inspiration for owners considering making an exit from their agency.Episode Insights:💡 Simple Strat’s journey towards becoming experts in the HubSpot ecosystem through content creation and strategic focus💡 How Ali and her team approach content production and finding ideas for their HubSpot Hacks channel on YouTube (leveraging TubeBuddy, AirTable, and HubSpot rep feedback)💡 Moving from solving problems on her own to empowering team members to learn and grow💡 Ali’s advice on leadership styles, the shift in mindset from a marketer to an agency owner, and the importance of systems and processes in scaling an agency💡 Ali’s thoughts on how to prepare for a future exit from an agency, including the importance of mindset but also legal compliance, data preparation, and moreResourced Mentioned:📚 Simple Strat 📚 Ali Schwanke’s LinkedIn📚 HubSpot Hacks YouTube channel 📚 TubeBuddy (for YouTube keyword research)📚 "Work Less, Earn More" by Karl Sakas (book)📚 "Built to Sell" by John Warrillow (book)📚 "How to Win Client Business When You Don't Know What You're Doing" by Doug Fletcher (book)👉 Don’t forget to follow and rate us on your preferred podcast platforms. We’re also on YouTube: @ZenPilot

Karl Sakas, an agency advisor and founder of Sakas & Company, shares his expertise from guiding over 600 clients globally. He discusses the importance of making agency owners optional by mastering management skills. Karl highlights the need for personal warmth over just competence and offers practical tips for building relationships within teams. He also emphasizes intense leadership development programs and the value of 360-degree evaluations to enhance leadership effectiveness. His insights are both actionable and inspiring for agency leaders.

Arianne Foulks, CEO of Aeolidia, shares insights on managing a creative team, nurturing a 'humble expert' culture, using tools like ClickUp, deciding on agency partnerships, and adapting pricing during the pandemic. The podcast focuses on building a diverse team, optimizing project scheduling, the power of agency partnerships, and sustainable business growth.

Gray MacKenzie, co-founder of ZenPilot and a project management expert, discusses the vital importance of effective processes and habits in agency success. He reveals that project management transcends mere software, highlighting tools like ClickUp and Teamwork. Gray shares insights on measuring client health through scorecards, integrating AI to enhance project efficiency, and the benefits of gamification for team motivation. Plus, he offers actionable tips for avoiding common pitfalls and boosting productivity.