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 10 years old and covers everything from starting a successful agency to selling your agency.

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Raising the Standards: The Importance of SOPs with Robert Brill | Ep #695
Scale Your Agency Jason Swenk Scale Your Agency Jason Swenk

Raising the Standards: The Importance of SOPs with Robert Brill | Ep #695

Are you prepared to elevate your agency team and pave the path to success? As your agency expands, the need to grow your team becomes inevitable, and having standard operating procedures (SOPs) in place beforehand can save you a lot of headaches.

Today’s guest went through a rapid growth phase with his agency and found he was ill-prepared to delegate responsibilities and clearly define tasks. As a result, he lost employees and clients but has since learned that SOPs should be in place before hiring and that a good SOP takes him out of the process as quickly as possible. Tune in to gain valuable insights on navigating the complexities of scaling an agency effectively.

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Building The Right Team: Taking Advantage of The Largest Untapped Talent Pool with Sara Jensen | Ep #694
Scale Your Agency Jason Swenk Scale Your Agency Jason Swenk

Building The Right Team: Taking Advantage of The Largest Untapped Talent Pool with Sara Jensen | Ep #694

Is your agency work affecting your family life? Have you created the necessary boundaries in order to let go and enjoy life while also grow your agency? Today’s guest thought she’d always be a solopreneur but as her workload mounted, she realized she needed reinforcements to maintain her level of service and keep clients coming back. Getting the right talent to balance all that was not easy, but she relied on a large untapped talent pool: moms looking to keep their careers thriving while raising their families. Join the conversation as Sarah discusses her experiences in scaling her business and balancing motherhood with a creative career.

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Losing Money as a Business Plan? Forging Long-Term Client Relationships with Kim Lawton | Ep #693
Scale Your Agency Jason Swenk Scale Your Agency Jason Swenk

Losing Money as a Business Plan? Forging Long-Term Client Relationships with Kim Lawton | Ep #693

Do you prioritize new clients or building lasting relationships? Would you be willing to lose money on a client in order to build a long-lasting relationship? Today’s guest has built two successful agencies banking on the power of planning for the long term instead of focusing just on the numbers. She’ll explain how she and her partner formed their vision of an agency where people could do their best work, clients felt heard, and it would all translate into business. Tune in to learn all about the visionary approach that led her and her partner to success.

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What Do All Successful Agencies Have in Common? How to Separate from the Pack with Tim Condon | Ep #692
Scale Your Agency Jason Swenk Scale Your Agency Jason Swenk

What Do All Successful Agencies Have in Common? How to Separate from the Pack with Tim Condon | Ep #692

What sets high-performing agencies apart from their low-performing counterparts? How are you positioning your agency for success? Our guest today is a seasoned business executive with extensive experience in product marketing and sales leadership. In his current role, he collaborates with agencies and gains insights into what separates successful ones from the rest. Tune in to gain valuable perspectives on agency performance and growth strategies.

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Onboarding Employees for Success From Day One with Noel Andrews | Ep #690
Scale Your Agency Jason Swenk Scale Your Agency Jason Swenk

Onboarding Employees for Success From Day One with Noel Andrews | Ep #690

Today’s guest believes most business owners disregard the importance of the onboarding process, which can affect a new hire’s chances of success in the agency. He’ll go over the many aspects you should be improving when it comes to properly onboarding a new team member and why you don’t want to waste the time, money, and effort you put into the hiring process by doing a bad job with onboarding. Tune in to learn valuable insights and strategies and how to avoid pitfalls in hiring remote team members.

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Pat Flynn on Whether You Should Start a Podcast in 2024. Insights from Smart Passive Income Podcast Host | Ep #689
Scale Your Agency Jason Swenk Scale Your Agency Jason Swenk

Pat Flynn on Whether You Should Start a Podcast in 2024. Insights from Smart Passive Income Podcast Host | Ep #689

Is the fear of failure holding you back from taking the first steps to establish your brand? Are you hesitating to start a podcast because you believe it would only be worthwhile if it garners millions of downloads? Our guest today is a true trailblazer in the podcast industry, having successfully built a thriving agency around his initial decision to create a show dedicated to entrepreneurs. Tune in for an insightful conversation on the power of pushing boundaries and the value of trying new things in the ever-evolving world of podcasting and entrepreneurship.

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Let Go to Grow: Hire the Right People & Achieve Work-Life Balance with Brendan Chard | Ep #686
Scale Your Agency Jason Swenk Scale Your Agency Jason Swenk

Let Go to Grow: Hire the Right People & Achieve Work-Life Balance with Brendan Chard | Ep #686

Do you find it challenging to carve out your niche or turn away less-than-ideal prospects, fearing missed opportunities? Today’s guest started his agency as a college student and pivoted to digital services as the internet was barely becoming a thing. One of the biggest shifts and struggles in his journey has been overcoming the fear of tuning down revenue and letting go of the notion that his way was the only approach clients would respond to. Tune in to learn valuable insights on navigating the agency landscape, committing to a niche, and maintaining a thriving business while prioritizing well-being.

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Knowing When to Let Go is the Key to Agency Growth with Suken Shah | Ep #684
Scale Your Agency Jason Swenk Scale Your Agency Jason Swenk

Knowing When to Let Go is the Key to Agency Growth with Suken Shah | Ep #684

Would you say your agency is like your baby? Could you be so emotionally attached to your business that you may be stifling its growth? Today’s guest will share his experience growing an agency and the turning points that allowed him to make real progress in its growth. From learning to communicate his agency's vision in a way that inspired buy-in to the surprising struggle of carving out space for a personal life amidst the chaos of entrepreneurship, his biggest challenge was letting go of the belief that he alone was the driving force behind its success. Tune in to learn his valuable lessons and tips for agency success.

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Avoiding The Revenue Trap: Prioritizing Agency Profit with Robert Berkeley | Ep #682
Scale Your Agency Jason Swenk Scale Your Agency Jason Swenk

Avoiding The Revenue Trap: Prioritizing Agency Profit with Robert Berkeley | Ep #682

Are you fed up with the revenue roller coaster? Ready to get off and build an agency business model focused on sustainable profits? Maybe you’ve heard the saying "revenue is vanity and profit is sanity". Our featured guest today experienced significant sustainable growth after breaking free from the “revenue trap”. By shifting the focus from revenue to the bottom line, he saw a remarkable shift, leading to financial stability and long-term sustainability. Tune in to discover how this agency owner navigated through adversity, turned his business around, and expanded his team to more than 700 members.

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How Strategy Can SAVE Small Businesses with Jimmy Newson | Ep #681
Scale Your Agency Jason Swenk Scale Your Agency Jason Swenk

How Strategy Can SAVE Small Businesses with Jimmy Newson | Ep #681

When did you last take a step back to evaluate whether your agency's strategy is truly aligned with your core mission and values? Is your team buying into the overall vision? Are they motivated and understand their role in the overall vision? If not, it’s time you start integrating vision and strategy for more effective results. Today’s guest has set himself the mission of saving small businesses from failure by teaching them how to combine their vision with effective strategy. He thinks agency owners should be thinking about strategy a lot sooner to avoid moving blindly with no particular purpose in sight. Tune in to learn how having a clear vision statement can motivate your team and drive growth.

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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.