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.
#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.
Should Your Agency Fear AI or Leverage It? with Tim Condon | Ep #821
With clients increasingly expecting their agencies to leverage AI, are you passively waiting for instructions or proactively guiding your clients on how to harness this technology? Today’s featured guest has a unique vantage point on this shift. He runs a platform that connects clients with credible agencies while helping agencies showcase their expertise, giving him a front-row seat to what clients truly want and what agencies fear about AI.
With hundreds of thousands of agencies on his platform, he’s seen firsthand that the agencies standing out are the ones leading the AI conversation, not waiting for permission to start it. He’ll share why educating your clients on the possibilities of AI is now a competitive advantage and how his company’s new verification layer aims to bring trust and clarity to an increasingly crowded agency marketplace.
How to Get Out of the 24/7 Grind and Scale Your Agency Smarter with RJ Huebert | Ep #820
Are you working harder than ever, but still can’t turn your brain off—even on weekends? Today’s featured guest is one of the many agency owners who has found it hard to find the right balance to take care of himself as well as the business. Like many agency owners, he made the leap from building someone else’s business to finally building his own. But trading a cozy corporate job for the chaos of running an agency with dozens of clients wasn’t as easy as it looked.
He shares the real challenges of sales, why speed is still the secret to winning leads, and how he’s figuring out how to convert prospects who aren’t quite ready to buy. Most importantly, he opens up about the ongoing struggle to find the right balance between health, family, and keeping the agency growing.
What Should You Do When Your Agency Gets Hit With a $10K Surprise? with Pete Kleinjan | Ep #818
A surprise $10K tax bill nearly knocked Pete Kleinjan off course but he learned that trusting experts, keeping perspective, and staying outcome-focused is what turns agency chaos into long-term growth. If you're facing curveballs, this episode is your mindset reset.
What’s the most unexpected challenge you’ve faced as an agency owner? How did you handle it when things went sideways?
Agency life is full of curveballs, and the only way to keep your business alive is by maintaining perspective and resilience when the unexpected hits.
Today’s featured guest once thought he would lose all the progress he’d made with his agency when the state hit him with a surprise $10K sales tax bill he didn’t even know existed. But now, he looks back and laughs, recognizing that getting through it came down to trusting the right professionals and staying the course.
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.
Thinking of Buying An Agency? Read This First - with Matt Marchetta | Ep #816
Buying another agency sounds like a shortcut to scale — but if you skip the wrong step or miss the wrong promise, you might inherit more problems than profit. But how do you actually approach due diligence to ensure a seamless, profitable acquisition?
Today’s featured guest learned these lessons the hard way. What started as a promising deal quickly revealed cracks, forcing him and his partner to navigate unexpected challenges to pull the agency through. In the process, he discovered the key questions you must ask before buying another agency and the hidden details that can make or break your investment.
If you’re an agency owner thinking about using acquisitions as a growth strategy, today’s conversation will equip you with real-world insights to avoid costly mistakes and set your agency up for a smoother, successful expansion.
How to Use AI to Add $200K in Profit Without Adding Headcount | Ep #815
We’ve been talking about AI on this podcast for years — not just as the next shiny tool, but as the biggest shift agencies will face this decade. Yet most agencies still haven’t done more than dabble. Meanwhile, their competitors (or even their clients) are using AI to move faster, make sharper decisions, and drive results that leave everyone else scrambling to catch up. If you’re still on the sidelines, you’re already behind.
Today’s guest is clear about the game-changing role of AI in the agency world. He argues it’s not just about making your shop more efficient — it’s about driving better client results, delivering faster, deeper insights, and adding to your bottom line.
How to Keep Clients Longer Without Overdelivering or Underselling | Ep #813
Is churn currently a problem with your agency clients? Are you aware of the reasons they decide to leave? It may be time to think hard about your onboarding process, client communication, and generally the ways you’re ensuring client satisfaction. The difference often comes down to positioning: are you operating as a trusted advisor or simply completing tasks? Today's special guest knows that agencies that prioritize client satisfaction, embrace accountability, and focus on becoming trusted advisors rather than mere task completers are the ones that create truly loyal clients.
Why Smart Agencies Build Leaders (Not Just Hire Them) | Ep #812
Do you build future leaders from scratch — or only hire seasoned pros? There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to building a great team, but today’s featured guest has a clear philosophy: when it comes to agency growth, he prefers to develop A-players from within. For him, building the bench is just as important as building the business.
Hamlet Azarian is the founder and CEO of Azarian Growth Agency, an agency that works with mid-market venture-backed startups helping them build their go-to-market strategies. He discusses his agency’s "build them up" strategy, focusing on continual learning and curiosity through an academy, webinars, and internships, rather than solely hiring seasoned professionals.
How to Make Clients Choose You and Stay: Lessons You Can Steal from Caitlin Copple & Holly Conti | Ep #811
How are you positioning your services as essential rather than optional, and accurately measuring growth and profitability to sustain long-term success? How are you measuring your agency’s growth and profitability? Today’s featured guests unpack how they scaled their PR shop past the million-dollar mark in under four years — and their journey offers valuable insights that any agency owner can apply immediately. Learn why they prefer growing the agency as partners, as opposed to sticking to being solopreneurs, how they’ve been tracking their growth, and how to over-communicate with clients openly so that choosing you is the easiest decision.
Why Going ‘Niche or Die’ Paid Off Big for Daniel Moscovitch | Ep #810
Ever thought about niching down, then bailed because it sounded too painful? Or maybe you tried, but ditched it when things got awkward? Today’s guest proves why sticking it out is worth the initial pain — not just to find your niche, but to find the perfect business partner too.
Meet Daniel Moscovitch, founder of Flooring Pros Marketing, a digital marketing agency focused on helping established flooring businesses throughout the US & Canada cement their position as the best in their market. He started as a generalist - doing SEO for pretty much anyone with a website and a pulse. However, unsatisfied staying just another “me too” shop competing on price and freebies he doubled down on a single, very specific industry.
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.
