Smart Agency Masterclass Podcast with Jason Swenk
Bi-weekly interviews, strategy, and advice for building your marketing agency the smart way.
The popular agency podcast has just turned 12 years old and covers everything from starting a successful agency to selling your agency.
#1 Agency Leadership Podcast. Check Out Our Past Guests.
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Seth Godin
Best selling Author of Purple Cow, This is Marketing, Linchpin, Permission Marketing
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Guy Kawasaki
Guy Kawasaki is the chief evangelist of Canva and former Apple chief evangelist
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Gino Wickman
The creator of the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) and author of Traction.
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Neil Patel
Founder of CrazyEgg, Kissmetrics, and other multimillion dollar companies
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![Uri Levine]()
Uri Levine
Co-founder of Waze
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Joey Coleman
Recognized for his expertise in customer retention & enhancing client loyalty
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Mike Michaelowicz
Best-selling author of Profit First and Clock Work
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Amy Porterfield
Renowned online marketing expert and educator
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Pat Flynn
The leaders in the podcast space
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Jay Baer
Best Selling author of Talk Triggers, Hug Your Haters, and one of the best speakers
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Todd Herman
Coach to Elite pro athletes, leaders, and public figures
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Dan Martell
Author of Buy Back Your Time. Influential coach in SaaS startups.
Staying Small Is a Strategy with Madison Carr | Ep #900
What if scaling your agency didn’t mean hiring more people or building a bigger team? What if the path to more freedom was actually designing a business that needs less, not more?
In this episode, today’s guest challenges the default assumption that growth requires headcount. She breaks down how she’s built a highly specialized, one-person agency and why, when positioned correctly, that model can outperform much larger teams.
The CEO Trap: Why Founders Either Check Out or Can't Let Go with Matt Nelson | Ep #899
Does growth break agencies or does it expose underlying issues? It’s a common thing. Even with momentum, scrappy decisions, loose roles, and unspoken agreements eventually become the very thing that holds the business back. And by the time it’s visible, it’s no longer a small fix. It’s structural.
Today’s featured guest pulls back the curtain on that transition.
The Invisible Ceiling Most Agency Owners Never See Coming with Brandon Harrar | Ep #898
What if growth isn’t actually about more clients, more hires, or even more revenue? What if the very thing driving your success right now is also the reason you’ll eventually stall?
Agency owners tend to chase the usual milestones: bigger deals, a growing team, rising top-line numbers. And for a while, that works. But there’s a breaking point most founders don’t see coming when the business can’t grow any further because everything still runs through them.
How to Build an Agency That Doesn’t Depend on You with Ted Harrison | Ep #897
Are you struggling to scale your agency or are you unknowingly the thing holding it back?
At what point does your growth stop being a systems problem and start becoming a leadership one?
Today’s guest shares what it to break through those ceilings.
After scaling quickly off the back of a strong network, he made the critical decision to systemize everything before growth turned him into the bottleneck. By leveraging documentation in a smart, intentional way, he built a foundation that allowed the agency to grow without everything running through him.
In this conversation, he unpacks the realities of working with enterprise clients, the often uncomfortable shift from operator to CEO, and why—despite all the noise, AI is actually increasing the need for human judgment, taste, and leadership, not replacing it.
The Identity Crisis Killing Agencies (And How to Rebuild Before It’s Too Late) With Jonathan Lewis | Ep #895
Are agencies becoming obsolete? We don’t think so. However, the traditional agency model isn’t just evolving, it’s breaking. Today’s featured guest believes the core of every business is dying and that agencies that want to adapt and win need to adopt the mindset of rebuilders. He shares why agencies have been in decline for over two decades and what it actually takes to rebuild a business that survives AI, commoditization, and shifting client expectations. Tactics alone won’t help because, at its core, this shift is about identity, positioning, and stepping into a new role as someone who doesn’t cling to the old model but actively creates the next one.
Why Hiring Without Systems Multiplies the Chaos with Chris Seminatore | Ep #894
What actually breaks an agency first, growth or the founder’s inability to evolve with it? And at what point does hiring more people stop creating leverage… and start creating chaos? Today’s featured guest dives into why he decided to close his first business, which he had grown to 22 employees, and start again solo. He needed to get away from the chaos of managing a large team, but what is the crucial mistake he can avoid if he ever wants to scale an agency team again? Beneath the tactics, it becomes clear that the role of a founder must grow if they want to build a business that doesn’t collapse without them.
Why Your Agency Can’t Scale Until You Stop Being the Doer with Matt Kovacs | Ep #893
Have you ever wondered how to strike that balance between managing your team and ensuring success for your clients? Today's featured guest is here is talk about what it actually takes to evolve from doing the work to building a team that can win without you.
The conversation cuts through common agency myths, like hiring better clients first or relying on RFPs, and instead exposes the real drivers of growth: team strength, leadership evolution, and structural leverage.
Why Doing More Is Holding Your Agency Back (And What to Do Instead) with Darby Copenhaver | Ep #892
In this rapidly evolving agency landscape, uncertainty has become the norm rather than the exception. From overwhelming decision paralysis caused by AI and doubts on how to move forward with clarity, owners need to adapt to constant change, identifying true bottlenecks, evolving their role, and simplifying systems to scale effectively.
Today’s featured guest is the first point of contact for agency founders experiencing these very struggles. As someone very in tune with the issues founders face, he’ll talk about the steps they need to take to prevent becoming a bottleneck that gets in the way of their own growth and share why growth isn’t about doing more; it’s about becoming something different.
Why Agencies Lose Clients: Confusing Reports and Outdated Operating Models with Nate Jenson | Ep #890
Do you assume a very complicated report will guarantee clients appreciate all the work you’re putting into generating leads for their business? It may end up having the opposite effect. Our featured guest will unpack how agencies and financial service firms face strikingly similar structural problems. From vague service promises to bloated processes and inefficient teams, both industries are being forced to evolve, especially as automation and AI raise expectations around speed, clarity, and decision-making.
Burned Out Agency Owner to AI Architect: The Real Shift Founders Must Make With Austin Armstrong | Ep #888
How are you protecting yourself from the real risk of owner burnout?
Agency owners often burn out because they built a business that depends entirely on them.
Today’s featured guest is a former agency owner turned AI SaaS founder. He'll unpack what really caused his agency collapse, what he learned from it, and how he rebuilt from a completely different role.
About the Show
The popular agency podcast has been around since 2014 and covers everything from starting a successful agency to selling your agency. What makes this podcast a must-listen is Swenk’s background as the founder and CEO of an agency for over a decade. Swenk brings his own experience to the table, besides the expertise of his guests. He mostly covers topics that help growing agencies scale to the next level.
YOUR HOST
JASON SWENK
Smart Agency Masterclass
Jason is a family man who also happens to have created a couple big marketing agencies, helped thousands of agency owners, and had a big agency exit too.
