The Innovative Agency

Summary Laurie Mikes, chief operating officer of Second Wind, an advocacy and resource organization for small- and mid-sized agencies, joins the discussion on attracting, retaining and developing talent post-pandemic. Set your agency up for success by honing in on your greatest asset — your people. Intro As an agency owner, your people are your greatest asset. But challenges around staffing are keeping many leaders up at night. For this episode of the Innovative Agency, we're diving into what you can do to attract, retain and develop talent in order to put your business on the right path. What You Will Learn in This Episode The silver lining of lean agency teams How to find balance in salary disparity between new hires and legacy employees How to structure job growth and advancement Why transparency is key for agency owners How to think about remote working options to retain employees Where agencies are having success finding candidates Bio Laurie Mikes has been with Second Wind since 1996 and currently acts as Chief Operating Officer. She oversees the daily operations of the business while keeping one finger on the pulse of the industry. Laurie is deeply involved with member agencies, emailing and speaking with them on a regular basis. Whether it's providing guidance about financial matters, agency growth or operations, her years of experience bring valuable insight and perspective to agencies looking to build a successful sustainable business. When not at work, Laurie can be found enjoying outdoor activities with her two sons, volunteering her time at school and renovating old properties around town with her husband. Resources Website: https://www.secondwindonline.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurie-mikes-9366111/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/second-wind/ Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/secondwindonline

Summary Manish Dudharejia, founder and CEO of E2M Solutions, joins the discussion to lay the groundwork on what a successful white label partnership looks like, including the importance ethics plays in client relationships. Set yourself up for success in 2023 business-wise and with a white label partner. Intro We've been focusing a lot on collaboration lately, and in this episode of the Innovative Agency, we're discussing how to have a successful white label partnership. As we look ahead to 2023, investing in this type of relationship can make all the difference in setting yourself up for success in the New Year and beyond. What You Will Learn in This Episode What ethics mean in the marketing world and why it matters Why focusing on niching can leave room for more lucrative opportunities Quick tips for agency leaders who want more successful white label partnerships Why the No. 1 challenge agencies have is a margin problem What agency owners can do to set themselves up for success in 2023 Bio Manish Dudharejia is wizard of E2M. He has over 15 years of experience in digital agency space, working closely with lots of different people associated with technology, entrepreneurship, and digital marketing. E2M helps digital agencies solve bandwidth problems with their strategic white label services. They have a team of over 150+ vetted experts in WordPress, Shopify, BigCommerce, SEO, copywriting and more. E2M is currently helping over 150 agencies across the US and other parts of the world grow and scale their agency businesses with piece of mind. Manish is responsible for their overall company operations, sustainable strategic growth, team mentoring and retention, and so much more. Resources Website: https://www.e2msolutions.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/e2m-solutions/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/manishdudharejia/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/E2MSolutions Twitter: https://twitter.com/e2msolutions Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/e2msolutions/

Summary Ryan Watson, a partner at Upsourced Accounting, joins the discussion to highlight how financial forecasting before a crisis can actually help you avoid one. Understanding which metrics are important – and which ones are distracting – can help agency owners avoid the overwhelm and achieve forward momentum and progress. Intro In this episode of the Innovative Agency, we are looking ahead to 2023. If you're like most agency owners, you have probably been planning for the new year and thinking a lot about metrics, numbers, money, and how to improve your profitability. As talks about a possible recession heat up, many have been wondering how they can prepare for tomorrow, today. What You Will Learn in This Episode How forecasting, strategic planning, and KPI reviews can help you plan for the next 1, 3, or 5 years Why being financially responsible every day will set you up for success regardless of the economy The challenges many agency owners face when getting their finances in order What the "Million-Dollar Moment" is, and how that shifts an agency's mindset around finances The "Hierarchy of Needs," and the questions you should be asking to assess the financial health of your agency How to overcome overwhelm by focusing on the metrics that are relevant and deciding which ones are distracting Bio Ryan Watson is an experienced operations and finance leader for creative agencies and venture-funded startups. By day, he is a partner at Upsourced. Ryan helps scaling creative agencies see the future and drive profits. By night, he runs a tech startup and helps other startup founders avoid some of the mistakes he made in his career. Previously, Ryan served as COO and CFO of Ahalogy, a venture funded influencer marketing agency, which exited to Quotient Technology, Inc (NYSE: QUOT) in June 2018. Prior to Ahalogy, he cut his teeth at Sqrl - a SaaS product incubated out of Upsourced that automated document collection for service firms. Sqrl received an Entrepreneur of the Year EDGE Award from Ernst & Young and 'Outstanding Emerging Innovation' honors from the Cincinnati Business Courier. Resources Websites: https://ryankwatson.com/ https://upsourcedaccounting.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryankeithwatson/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/upsourced-accounting/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/upsourcedaccounting/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Upsourced?s=20&t=x1hKhOkI_oA2Z3Lhsyc_Bg Recession diagnostic:https://upsourced.typeform.com/to/DhjP6oh8 Recession Guide: https://hubs.ly/Q01rFvjq0

Summary Logan Lyles joins us to discuss marketing agency profitability — how it is achieved and how it is best maintained and nurtured. His insights will help you ensure that your team isn't over or underutilized, which will allow you to maximize profit without resulting in churn. Intro Agency owners and their employees are notorious for working hard. But, how many are paying close attention to where their working hours are being spent and how those efforts affect overall profitability? Today's guest, Logan Lyles, provides insight into the methods agencies can use to implement time-tracking strategies that illuminate vulnerabilities and new profit opportunities. What You Will Learn in This Episode How to implement a time-tracking strategy that your team doesn't hate. The value of viewing your billable hours as "shelf inventory." The importance of recognizing how you are billing and what can be done better. How to eliminate scope creep using time tracking. How to prepare clients for pricing changes by setting up trigger points in their contracts. Bio Logan Lyles is the Head of Partnerships at Teamwork, a project management platform built for scaling client work. Logan previously served in several leadership roles at Sweet Fish, a B2B podcast agency serving mid-market SaaS companies. Taking over sales from the agency founder in 2018, Logan helped triple the business in his first 6 months. He also played a key role in landing the agency on the Inc 5,000 List (twice), while helping the company both 10x headcount & increase ARR by 1,283%. Logan works from his home office (that's slowly becoming a mini video studio) alongside his labradoodle, Mack, in Castle Rock, CO. Resources LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/loganlyles https://www.linkedin.com/company/teamwork-com Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/TeamworkHQ Twitter:https://twitter.com/teamwork

Intro The most valuable thing you have within your agency's inventory is the intellectual property you create. With the right strategy — your team could turn your IP into a standalone revenue stream(s). Agencies are creators — and because of that — agencies are IP generators every single day. In my opinion, agencies often overlook this because their business model tends to focus on monetizing the production — doing the stuff. But — I believe agencies can flip that script because the ideas and the way they get expressed in the strategies you develop for clients, the brands and campaigns you build — or whatever it might be — that's where the real money could be for the agency. If you're looking for new ways to think about profitable revenue streams for your agency in 2023 and beyond — then this is the episode you don't want to miss. I break down what I call the "IP Triangle" so you can take and apply all the steps to make going from IP to Income in 2023 possible. What you will learn in this episode: Why more than 50 percent of all agencies overlook the value and potential revenue streams their IP could represent How to use the "IP Triangle" to inventory the intellectual property that you most likely already have inside your agency How to harness all of the "gold dust" that's being scattered around every day within the walls of your agency and turn it into a highly profitable revenue stream How to protect your portfolio of trademarks, taglines, product and system names, etc How the value of your IP directly impacts the valuation of your agency Bio Sharon Toerek is Principal of Toerek Law, where she focuses her law practice on helping professionals in the advertising, marketing, and creative industries monetize their intellectual capital and manage the legal risks of their work. Sharon provides proactive, strategic counsel to marketing agencies on legal issues they continually face in their work, including agency-brand contracts, social media, content marketing legal compliance, and trademark and copyright protection. Sharon also created the Legal + Creative Agency Protection System, a subscription-based legal toolkit for marketing agencies. In 2018, Sharon launched The Innovative Agency, a podcast on innovation for marketing agency leaders. Resources: Website:https://www.legalandcreative.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharontoerek/ Twitter:https://twitter.com/SharonToerek

Intro This episode covers a few ways an agency can branch out, capitalizing on techniques they've perfected through conducting business, after the point at which they achieve self-sufficiency. David Riggs joins us to discuss how he led a web development and SEO agency to success and wrote his company's playbooks. He also speaks about how he now monetizes those core concepts to help other agencies reach the point of self-sufficiency, all while growing his own agency. What you will learn in this episode: How to document your agency's processes and operations. How to invest in newer companies and teach them how to succeed – and how to pick the right ones. The concept of trading playbooks – not money – for minority shares in a company. The 80/20 rule: finding the 20% that gets things moving for a new company; the other 80% will come with time. How problem-solving skills can be valuable for someone trying to break into this business model. Bio David Riggs, founder of Pneuma, a full-service web and SEO company, has been running businesses since he was seven years old. Where most kids dip their toes in lemonade sales, David did things a bit differently. He caught the "leadership bug" early on and never quit. He structured his first "venture debt deal" when he asked his grandmother to loan him ten dollars for ten percent of his earnings. A few years later, while living next to a golf course, David gathered all of the errant balls that landed in his backyard and sold them at a yard sale. He then started flipping sneakers (think Jordans and other in-demand brands) for profit. David graduated at the height of the pandemic in May 2020 and took a remote job that allowed him to continue working on Pneuma. David says, "I hired a co-founder to help run things while I closed deals on lunch breaks." Many mornings, he would appear on podcasts before starting his day job. He spent a lot of his time "focusing on how to get the momentum rolling." Eventually, he switched to Pneuma full-time and was joined by a CMO and CTO Resources: Website: https://www.pneumallc.co/ pneumallc.co/get-a-free-assessment LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dwilliamriggs/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/pneumamedia/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/dwilliamriggs

Bio Simon Severino helps business owners in SaaS and Services run their company more effectively which results in sales that soar. Trusted by Google, Roche, Consilience Ventures, Amgen, and AbbVie, he created the Strategy Sprints™ Method that doubles revenue in 90 days by getting owners out of the weeds. Simon is a TEDx speaker, Contributor to Forbes and Entrepreneur Magazine, and member of the SVBS Silicon Valley Blockchain Society. Intro This episode explores why agencies get stuck and what they can do to breathe new life into their operations. Our guest, Simon Severino, offers a unique solution that hinges on paring service offerings down to the bare minimum. His consulting business has proven that once you've got your offering down to one service, it will be much easier to scale efficiently and effectively. What you will learn in this episode: The benefits of limiting your scope to a single service offering. How to standardize core processes. The value of showing clients that your offering actually works. How to avoid scope creep leaving your team unsatisfied with their work. A method to find out what the margin is on your current offering. Resources: Website:https://www.strategysprints.com/ LinkedIn: Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonseverino/ Business: https://www.linkedin.com/company/strategysprints/ Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/strategysprints/ Twitter:https://twitter.com/strategysprints Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnSFgJd0CrsEdQdO21txR2A Podcast:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/strategy-sprints/id1299008831 Book:https://www.amazon.com/Strategy-Sprints-Accelerate-Growth-Business/dp/139860349X

Intro In this episode of the show, we discuss the ways agencies can better serve their clients' needs through outsourcing and white labeling their production work. And in the process, how they can add revenue streams by monetizing their agency's intellectual property. Brian Gerstner, president of White Label IQ, tells us how his agency did it, and also discusses its business model and its philosophies when it comes to identifying a niche and capitalizing on it to provide value to a specific group of customers – and how to determine what that group is. What you will learn in this episode: How to value your intellectual property as an agency. How to learn how your agency can provide value to a niche. Agencies who know what they're good at – what their wheelhouse is – are the ones who succeed in white labeling. Success tips for agencies working with white label partners. Why agency-to-agency collaboration and teamwork are so important in white labeling. Bio Brian Gerstner is the President of White Label IQ. He has over two decades of client-facing and agency-to-agency experience creating, directing, and leading teams to develop digital and software solutions to empower sales, communication, and digital operations. In his role with White Label IQ, he works with over 50 agencies providing white-labeled specialized skill sets for design, development, and paid media services. Resources: Website: https://www.whitelabeliq.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/white-label-iq/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WhiteLabelIQ/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/whitelabel_iq?lang=en

Intro Consumers increasingly want to align with businesses that clearly align their marketing with their corporate purpose. Lyn Wineman, president and chief strategist at KidGlov, specializes in helping agencies define and effectively market via their purpose. She believes that your employees are your number one audience for launching your purpose statement; and once you do, they'll be the ones to help you live that purpose. What you will learn in this episode: How to define your purpose as an agency. Why businesses across the board are wanting to do something different, and how they live their purpose. How to use your purpose to stand out and set yourself apart. Why it's hard to recover as a business once you've lost your customers' trust. How purpose-driven marketing allows smaller entrepreneurial companies to compete with larger enterprises. How to leverage your B Corp certification into a marketing tool to further live your business' purpose. Bio Lyn Wineman is President and Chief Strategist at KidGlov. She is a marketing veteran with over 30 years of experience. She now leads a diverse team of passionate and talented professionals to drive growth through strategic branding and marketing communications. In addition to founding KidGlov, Lyn has played key leadership roles including: president, Pickering Creative Group; senior vice president, Swanson Russell Associates; and marketing director, Tabitha. Lyn has extensive brand advancement experience. She has been instrumental in marketing and branding efforts for regional and national organizations such as Immanuel, Lincoln Community Foundation, HopeSpoke, St. Monica's, Regency Shopping Center, MembersOwn Credit Union, Farmers & Merchants Bank, Union Bank and Bryan Health. Resources: Website:https://kidglov.com/ LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/company/kidglov/ Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/KidGlov Twitter:https://twitter.com/kidglov Agency for Change Podcast:https://kidglov.com/podcasts/ Blog:https://kidglov.com/blog/when-should-your-company-speak-out-on-social-issues-3-questions-every-purpose-driven-business-should-ask-itself/

Intro This episode focuses on the goals that an agency should outline to create a roadmap for their growth. Jon Morris joins the podcast today to discuss his innovative framework around how agencies should look at goal-setting. Having owned agencies, he brings a lot of experience to the discussion, particularly how he was able to grow his agency to two hundred and fifty employees before selling it. His formula highlights four different types of goals for growing an agency's revenue. What you will learn in this episode: How you can triage what's most important for your company, so you can outline concrete goals. How to define dollar amounts for each of the four agency goals: revenue, profit, cash, and infrastructure. What kinds of investments your agency should be making in training & recruiting, to maximize growth. How to organize your agency's accounts to create a clear-cut safety net and understand your company's outlook. The best way to institutionalize your agency's goals, so your team can understand them and ultimately help you achieve them. Bio Jon Morris is the founder & CEO of Ramsay Innovations and a serial entrepreneur. Prior to Ramsay, he established Rise Interactive in 2004 with prize money from his second-place finish in the University of Chicago's prestigious New venture Challenge. Over the next 16 years, he grew Rise from a one-person shop to one of the largest independent marketing agencies in the world. After selling Rise, Jon pondered his next move and realized that he was most energized when connecting and helping fellow entrepreneurs grow their businesses. Ramsay Innovations is the product of this inspiration. Like at Rise, Jon developed a proprietary, tech-enabled approach for surfacing hidden financial insights that drive critical business decisions. Ramsay Innovations' mission is to transform marketing agencies by providing them with world-class, agency-specific financial management and strategic planning at a fraction of the cost. In his spare time, Jon enjoys spending time with his wife, three daughters, and two dogs. He loves soccer, having played on his alma mater's team, Kenyon College, and he now coaches his daughter's two soccer teams. Resources: Website:https://ramsayinnovations.com/ LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonmorrisramsayinnovations/ Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/RamsayInnovations Twitter:https://twitter.com/JonBMorris