110 Jonathan Stark: Why Hourly Billing Is Costing You a Fortune

110 Jonathan Stark: Why Hourly Billing Is Costing You a Fortune

Hey everyone, today I'm joined by Jonathan Stark [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanstark/]. Jonathan is an author, speaker, and consultant who has spent over 20 years helping agencies and consultants escape the trap of hourly billing. He hosts the Ditching Hourly podcast, has published over 500 episodes on the subject, and runs the Ditcherville community.  I wanted Jonathan on because pricing is one of the most underlevered moves in any agency owner's toolkit. Most people know hourly billing isn't ideal, but very few know how to actually make the switch without panicking. In this episode, we discuss: * Why fixed-price quotes feel risky and how to price them correctly * The real source of scope creep in value-priced engagements * The first productized service every agency should build * And more... You can learn more about Jonathan on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanstark/] and at JonathanStark.com [https://jonathanstark.com/] ----------- Lead Gen is the hardest part of running an agency. For most, it's unpredictable, it's slow, and it's usually expensive. Gia flips that. It's the all-in-one growth platform that turns your existing relationships and client work into a steady pipeline. Gia automates lead gen follow-up and content, and it's all from the work you're already doing. You can check it out and get some free bonuses at getgia.ai/dynamicagency [https://getgia.ai/dynamicagency1] ----------- No one was asking for another community. But I've made one anyway. So what's different? The Dynamic Agency Community is designed around access rather than content. Access to peers who've done it before. Access to experts who've designed solutions. Access to resources that have been battle-tested. And right now, the price for founding members is only $97/year. Join today so your agency has immediate access to everything you need to grow. You can join at DynamicAgencyOS.com/Community [https://dynamicagencyos.com/community]. ----------- Subscribe to the Agency Forward blog on Substack. We have weekly blog content with practical advice to help you advance your agency. ----------- And if you're ready for 1-on-1 help to create some mind-blowing offers for your agency, visit DynamicAgencyOS.com [https://www.dynamicagencyos.com/] to schedule a free consultation. Running an agency is tough, but you don't need to go it alone.

109 Speed to Informed: The Hidden Lever in Agency Ownership

Most agency owners think their problem is workload. It isn't. It's latency, the gap between the moment a question lands and the moment you have an answer good enough to act on. In this solocast, I break down a metric I've been optimizing my life around for two years: Speed to Informed. The fix has two arms, and most owners only ever build one. In this episode: * Why workload isn't actually the problem * The three patterns that keep agency owners slow to informed * One starting move you can make this week to reclaim 6-10 hours * and more... ----------- Lead Gen is the hardest part of running an agency. For most, it's unpredictable, it's slow, and it's usually expensive. Gia flips that. It's the all-in-one growth platform that turns your existing relationships and client work into a steady pipeline. Gia automates lead gen follow-up and content, and it's all from the work you're already doing. You can check it out and get some free bonuses at getgia.ai/dynamicagency [https://getgia.ai/dynamicagency1] ----------- No one was asking for another community. But I've made one anyway. So what's different? The Dynamic Agency Community is designed around access rather than content. Access to peers who've done it before. Access to experts who've designed solutions. Access to resources that have been battle-tested. And right now, the price for founding members is only $97/year. Join today so your agency has immediate access to everything you need to grow. You can join at DynamicAgencyOS.com/Community [https://dynamicagencyos.com/community]. ----------- Subscribe to the Agency Forward blog on Substack. We have weekly blog content with practical advice to help you advance your agency. ----------- And if you're ready for 1-on-1 help to create some mind-blowing offers for your agency, visit DynamicAgencyOS.com [https://www.dynamicagencyos.com/] to schedule a free consultation. Running an agency is tough, but you don't need to go it alone.

108 Garrett Jestice: Your Best Client Is Already Your GTM Strategy

Hey everyone, today I'm joined by Garrett Jestice [https://www.linkedin.com/in/garrettjestice/]. Garrett is a GTM consultant and advisor who helps agencies, solo consultants, and fractionals build the foundations that make marketing and sales actually work.  I wanted Garrett on because he's someone I talk to regularly, and every conversation surfaces something practical. His take on leverage levers for agencies goes well beyond the usual "niche down" advice, and his perspective on the rise of micro-agencies and what's dying in the traditional model is something every agency owner needs to hear right now. In this episode, we discuss: * Why your best client should become your entire go-to-market strategy * Why the full-service agency model is dying and what the micro-agency model looks like instead * Why partnerships and co-marketing are the most overlooked growth lever for agencies * And more... You can find Garrett on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/garrettjestice/] and on Substack at 10xsolo.substack.com [https://10xsolo.substack.com/]. ----------- Lead Gen is the hardest part of running an agency. For most, it's unpredictable, it's slow, and it's usually expensive. Gia flips that. It's the all-in-one growth platform that turns your existing relationships and client work into a steady pipeline. Gia automates lead gen follow-up and content, and it's all from the work you're already doing. You can check it out and get some free bonuses at getgia.ai/dynamicagency [https://getgia.ai/dynamicagency1] ----------- No one was asking for another community. But I've made one anyway. So what's different? The Dynamic Agency Community is designed around access rather than content. Access to peers who've done it before. Access to experts who've designed solutions. Access to resources that have been battle-tested. And right now, the price for founding members is only $97/year. Join today so your agency has immediate access to everything you need to grow. You can join at DynamicAgencyOS.com/Community [https://dynamicagencyos.com/community]. ----------- Subscribe to the Agency Forward blog on Substack. We have weekly blog content with practical advice to help you advance your agency. ----------- And if you're ready for 1-on-1 help to create some mind-blowing offers for your agency, visit DynamicAgencyOS.com [https://www.dynamicagencyos.com/] to schedule a free consultation. Running an agency is tough, but you don't need to go it alone.

107 Mike Grinberg: Why Positioning Is Really a De-Risking Problem

Hey everyone, today I'm joined by Mike Grinberg [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/]. Mike is the founder of Proofpoint Marketing, a positioning consultancy that works primarily with boutique firms in regulated industries like life sciences, financial services, and med tech.  I wanted to have Mike on because, selfishly, we think about positioning very similarly. Mike's take on positioning is that he doesn't treat it as a messaging problem. He treats it as a business design problem. But in addition, he also has a great way of viewing positioning through the lens of derisking the buying decision, and it's incredibly helpful.  In this episode, we discuss: * Why positioning is an operations problem, not a marketing problem * The four-box risk matrix agencies can use to understand how buyers evaluate them * Why personal risk matters more than organizational risk in most deals * And more... You can learn more about Mike on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/]. ----------- Lead Gen is the hardest part of running an agency. For most, it's unpredictable, it's slow, and it's usually expensive. Gia flips that. It's the all-in-one growth platform that turns your existing relationships and client work into a steady pipeline. Gia automates lead gen follow-up and content, and it's all from the work you're already doing. You can check it out and get some free bonuses at getgia.ai/dynamicagency [https://getgia.ai/dynamicagency1] ----------- No one was asking for another community. But I've made one anyway. So what's different? The Dynamic Agency Community is designed around access rather than content. Access to peers who've done it before. Access to experts who've designed solutions. Access to resources that have been battle-tested. And right now, the price for founding members is only $97/year. Join today so your agency has immediate access to everything you need to grow. You can join at DynamicAgencyOS.com/Community [https://dynamicagencyos.com/community]. ----------- Subscribe to the Agency Forward blog on Substack. We have weekly blog content with practical advice to help you advance your agency. ----------- And if you're ready for 1-on-1 help to create some mind-blowing offers for your agency, visit DynamicAgencyOS.com [https://www.DynamicAgencyOS.com] to schedule a free consultation. Running an agency is tough, but you don't need to go it alone.

106 The So That Gap: Why Your Positioning Stops at the Homepage

Positioning that doesn't change how you hire, price, deliver, sell, and operate is just a writing exercise. In this solocast, Chris DuBois introduces the "So That Gap" — the distance between the sentence on your homepage and the operating decisions underneath it. You get a three-minute diagnostic you can run on yourself right now, a map of the five specific places this gap shows up in every agency, and one concrete move you can make this week to start closing it. In this episode, I cover: * Why most positioning work stops at the messaging layer and never reaches operations * A diagnostic for finding exactly where your positioning runs out * Why the 5 gaps compound and feed each other (and why fixing just one never sticks) * And more... Full companion article with frameworks for each gap is on Substack [https://open.substack.com/pub/agencyforward/p/the-so-that-gap-why-agencies-with?r=5uw1lt&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true]. ----------- Lead Gen is the hardest part of running an agency. For most, it's unpredictable, it's slow, and it's usually expensive. Gia flips that. It's the all-in-one growth platform that turns your existing relationships and client work into a steady pipeline. Gia automates lead gen follow-up and content, and it's all from the work you're already doing. You can check it out and get some free bonuses at getgia.ai/dynamicagency [https://getgia.ai/dynamicagency1] ----------- No one was asking for another community. But I've made one anyway. So what's different? The Dynamic Agency Community is designed around access rather than content. Access to peers who've done it before. Access to experts who've designed solutions. Access to resources that have been battle-tested. And right now, the price for founding members is only $97/year. Join today so your agency has immediate access to everything you need to grow. You can join at DynamicAgencyOS.com/Community [https://dynamicagencyos.com/community]. ----------- Subscribe to the Agency Forward blog on Substack. We have weekly blog content with practical advice to help you advance your agency. ----------- And if you're ready for 1-on-1 help to create some mind-blowing offers for your agency, visit DynamicAgencyOS.com to schedule a free consultation. Running an agency is tough, but you don't need to go it alone.