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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Dan Martell
Author of Buy Back Your Time. Influential coach in SaaS startups.
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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
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.
Why Most Agency Acquisitions Fall Apart (And What Buyers Actually Want) with Azim Nagree | Ep #896
Why are more agencies selling right now? If this trend has made you think about selling, is it because the market is hot… or because you’ve outgrown your role?
If you’re seriously thinking about selling your business, you should know that it’ll ultimately come down to whether it can survive without you, and whether you want it to.
Today’s featured guest breaks down what’s really driving the surge in agency acquisitions right now. He goes beyond surface-level multiples and unpacks what buyers actually look for, why most founders sabotage deals during diligence, and how AI is quietly separating premium agencies from the rest.
This conversation will challenge how you think about growth, ownership, and your role in the business.
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.
Stop Building a Job: How to Build an Agency That Supports Your Life with Brian Franks | Ep #881
Most agencies are one bad month, or one health scare, away from chaos. In this episode, Brian Franks shares how his agency survived a sudden medical emergency because it was built on trust, relationships, and the right level of involvement (not bloated systems or massive teams). If your agency can’t run without you, this conversation will hit close to home.
Want to Sell Your Agency? Start by Firing Yourself with Taylor McMaster | Ep #879
If you want to sell your agency one day, you can’t be the hero in every lane. Taylor built Dot & Co with an exit in mind from year one, systematically removing herself from fulfillment, people management, and eventually sales, so the business could run (and grow) without her. The result: a clean acquisition, a happy team, and zero identity crisis on the other side.
How to Survive Google Updates, AI Disruption, and Scale a Local SEO Agency with Joy Hawkins | Ep #869
Do you feel constantly worried about shrinking organic visibility, heavier ad pressure, and constant change? Running an agency has never been a straight line. Platforms change, algorithms shift, and what worked five years ago can quietly stop working overnight. Today’s featured guest knows that reality and will share her journey from agency employee to founder of a 43-person local SEO agency, along with her honest perspective on Google, AI, remote teams, and why growing bigger can actually create more freedom and impact when done for the right reasons.
From Chaos to Clarity: Systems, Focus & Values of a Thriving Agency with Colin Hetherington | Ep #817
Running an agency can feel like chaos on repeat—clients, team stress, and no clear direction. You’re not alone. Today’s featured guest has built and sold a $3M+ agency, kept employee turnover under 5%, and is now launching a focused, values-driven agency built to thrive in today’s market.
He shares some hard-won lessons on building a culture your team will never want to leave, attracting clients who respect your expertise, and creating the clarity and focus you need to scale without burning out. If you’re an agency owner who’s tired of the chaos and wants a clearer, saner path forward, this conversation will give you a roadmap worth following.
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.