Ep 28: Neal Lappe | The Standard Everyone Chases

Ep 28: Neal Lappe | The Standard Everyone Chases

Neal Lappe, founder of Geear (formerly WebStrategies Inc) and one of the most respected leaders in the WSI network, joins Mike for a conversation about building an agency with focus, discipline, and enough staying power to create something bigger than the person who started it. They talk specialization, vertical strategy, culture, succession, and why Neal’s shift from general digital marketing into financial services became one of the defining decisions behind his agency’s growth. But this episode is really about legacy, the kind built through people, mentorship, consistency, and showing up for the network long after you’ve already "made it". Naturally, Mike spends most of the conversation trying to make Neal admit he’s the big dog of WSI while he calmly refuses to take the bait. There are real lessons here for agency owners, a lot of respect hiding under the nonsense, and one convention story that explains exactly when Mike realized Neal Lappe was not just another guy looking for a dinner table.

Ep 27: Andrew Widdall | The AI Search Shift

Andrew Widdall of Unibit Solutions joins Mike to talk about the evolution of SEO, the rise of AI search, and why digital marketers have spent the last year trying to separate real strategy from internet panic. They dig into search visibility, client expectations, recurring revenue, and what businesses need to understand about investing in long-term digital growth instead of chasing shortcuts. Along the way, the conversation shifts into agency operations, leadership, and the realities of supporting hundreds of clients across a global network. From WSI partnerships and Supplier of the Year recognition to perfectionism, process, and client expectations, Andrew shares why the best results still come from doing the fundamentals exceptionally well, even when the industry keeps chasing the next shiny object.

Ep 26: Gina Marie Mattei | The Human Cost of Reliability

Gina Marie Mattei, the Marketing Maven of Revelation Creative joins Mike for this week’s episode that starts as a conversation about B2B marketing and somehow turns into a full breakdown of agency life, client relationships, leadership burnout, and why experienced operators eventually develop sarcasm as a defense mechanism. They talk about trust, communication, creative strategy, and the difference between agencies that actually care about partnership versus agencies just trying to survive another quarter. Along the way, Gina absolutely unloads on Mike, exposing his stress habits, his inability to slow down, and the very real possibility that he’s spent most of his career functioning as an emotional support system disguised as a COO. There’s sharp marketing insight, operational therapy, and enough laughter at Mike’s expense to make this feel less like a podcast episode and more like two industry veterans sitting in a parking lot after a conference trying to recover from agency life.

[Bonus] Ops-285: Track 4 | Digital Puppet

This bonus episode gets uncomfortably honest pretty fast. Producer Emily Lundy joins Ops Mike to break down Digital Puppet, the OPS-285 track about burnout, staffing chaos, digital overload, and realizing your nervous system has been running on pure cortisol since Q2. They unpack the real stories behind the lyrics, the pressure of agency ops life, and what happens when “I’ll just push through it” quietly turns into survival mode. There’s therapy talk, resignation trauma, browser-tab rage, emotional support gym sessions, and Mike openly admitting he cried in a parking lot before a dentist appointment. Massive moment for the Angry Ops Guy brand. Full song track at the end. Congratulations, you broke this Ops guy.

Ep 25: Cheryl Baldwin | Keeping the Network Moving

The OG Ops Lady finally said yes to the podcast! Cheryl Baldwin from WSI Head Office joins me for a conversation about convention chaos, operational burnout, AI disruption, and what it actually takes to help keep a global network moving after 22 years inside WSI. We talk about the evolution of the network, the pressure of supporting consultants through nonstop industry change, and why “Embrace Digital. Stay Human.” matters more now than ever. Along the way, we get into convention war stories, balancing people and process at scale, and the very specific friendship that forms when two long-time ops people have spent years surviving the same chaos together. This episode also gets into why Global Convention still matters inside WSI beyond the presentations and sessions. It’s where consultants reconnect, share ideas, swap survival stories, and actually experience the network in a way that Zoom calls and Teams chats never fully replicate. For all the chaos that comes with digital marketing, there’s still something powerful about getting the community together in one place and remembering none of us are figuring this stuff out alone.