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.
Thinking of Selling Your Agency? Cash Out for Max Value (and Avoid the Biggest Mistakes) With Sean Hakes | Ep #827
Are you growing your agency with the goal of selling it one day? More importantly — are you taking the right steps now to ensure it’s actually worth what you think it is?
Today’s featured guest has built and sold multiple agencies over the years, gaining hard-earned insights into the process. He shares what you need to know to prepare your agency for sale, the potential pitfalls and opportunities with non-competes and earnouts, and whether hiring a broker is really worth it.
If selling your agency is on your horizon, or even just a long-term possibility, this episode is packed with practical advice to help you maximize your valuation and avoid costly mistakes.
How to Scale an Agency by Simplifying Your Offer and Niching Down with Nate Freedman | Ep #826
What happens when you stop chasing $30K projects—and start solving real problems for $300 clients in a way that actually works?
Today’s featured guest had been building $32,000 websites for mid-market companies. On paper, it looked like success. But in reality, he felt stuck—unfulfilled and back in a corporate-style grind that didn’t align with the kind of work or life he truly wanted.
When he took a step back, he realized something important: the clients he really wanted to serve were already reaching out. These were smaller, $300K businesses with many of the same challenges agencies see across the board—but without the bloated complexity.
Can You Scale an Agency Without Relying on Retainers? With Eric Baum | Ep #825
Agency veteran Eric Baum hit a wall scaling Bluleadz. After shifting to project-based work, reworking his cash flow strategy, and implementing EOS, he broke past the $5M plateau. Now he’s on track to hit 8 figures with 80% project work.
What You’ll Learn
Why project work doesn’t have to mean unpredictable revenue
What “no man’s land” is—and how to escape it
How to build systems that support scale without burning you out
Why CSMs might be the key to long-term profitability
How to turn past clients into your most reliable revenue stream
Key Takeaways
Project work isn’t the enemy: Bluleadz flipped their model after COVID. Now 85% of revenue is from projects—but structured payment terms keep cash predictable.
EOS fixed the chaos: Eric was stuck between $1M–$5M in revenue. EOS brought structure, accountability, and growth.
Milestone billing = freedom: They moved away from deliverable-based payments. Now they get 100% of project fees before delivery finishes.
Don’t leave cash on the table: Eric admitted they ignored past clients for too long. Just by reselling old customers, they could double or triple revenue.
Triple-team model wins: Sales, Implementation, and Customer Success Managers each own part of the client journey. This model boosted LTV and team focus.
Strategic partnerships are scaling fuel: Bluleadz isn’t just riding HubSpot’s coattails. They’re diversifying leads through inbound, referrals, and partnerships.
How Do You Scale Your Agency Without Being the Bottleneck? With Kevin Miller | Ep #823
Are you a CEO still caught in the weeds of day-to-day operations? If so, you're not building a truly scalable business. Today’s episode is here to help you shift that mindset. Our featured guest is a CEO who has grown his agency by focusing on smart leadership—prioritizing culture, developing strong management structures, and intentionally making himself less essential to every meeting.
Like many agency owners, he once believed he had to outwork everyone to prove his worth. But over time, he discovered that the agency performs better when he leads with vision instead of constant presence and that CEOs don’t need to be grinding to be effective. In this conversation, he shares how he came to that realization, what it’s meant for his agency’s growth and client success, how he built a trusted A-team, and more.
How to Step Out of Day-to-Day Client Work Without Breaking the Agency with Brent Weaver | Ep #822
Are you still you agency’s “product”? Maybe you’ve thought about stepping back from the day-to-day but feel terrified you’ll break what’s working. Out featured guest is the newly appointed CEO of E2M Solutions and he shares what it’s been like going from being the main “product” at an agency he built and grew, to stepping in to run a 300-person white-label agency.
From losing the fear of breaking what already worked to accepting it’s better if he’s usually not in client call, he shares how he’s become comfortable with his new role: coaching the core leadership team, amplifying culture, and making sure hundreds of projects and thousands of tasks get executed well. Brent’s journey is packed with lessons on what real leadership looks like when you’re ready to grow.
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.
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.
