Building Agencies
I booked a mentorship session with Jacob, and it was absolutely amazing! He validated so many of my ideas about agency operations and scaling, while also providing actionable advice on managing finances, improving margins, knowing what to focus on (and what not to) regarding revenue, and building a team. In just 30 minutes, he managed to answer so many of my questions. I’d highly recommend Jacob to anyone struggling with agency operations or looking to scale their business.
Jacob is a brilliant agency leader, entrepreneur and thinker. Over the course of two calls, I learned invaluable insights on a range of topics including how to run an agency, pricing, negotiation, partnerships, mental models and frameworks for making great decisions. I would highly recommend connecting with Jacob if you are in the creative / agency world, as he is a wealth of knowledge and has experience to boot.
Loved my chat with Jacob! It wasn't just like an expert consult, but he encouraged me and coached me to act on what I wanted to do. And I'm already seeing the benefits! Thank you so much Jacob, I'll be coming back probably for more agency-related advice!
An entrepreneur at heart, in 2018 I acquired equity in a marketing agency, taking over operations. We scaled the agency to become a household name in the B2B technology marketing space, I enabled the original founder to step back from the day-to-day, and in early 2023, we sold the agency. After the sale, I connected with a new team to acquire several other agencies, quickly scaling the portfolio as we hit the Inc. 5000 and refined what the agencies of tomorrow look like. Today I partner with professional-service firms that want the same outcome: a founder-light, profit-heavy business that can scale (or sell) on their terms.
Scaling your team? As a Director of Operations, I have managed everything from knowing when to hire in the first place & creating the right job descriptions/ads (there's a difference), to developing team trainings and dealing with performance problems. HR can be really tough, and sometimes an outside perspective is all you need.
Email marketing has a higher ROI than almost every channel. But it costs you your time, and it's expensive to waste time learning lessons that others already did. In many cases a few small changes in content/strategy is all that is standing in your way from experiencing that ROI. Let's connect on it.
As a marketing agency Director, I spend my days working with my team to develop marketing that can be seen on the bottom line. Where is your funnel breaking down? Is there something wrong in your messaging? Do you have the right tech stack? Let's connect and see where we can find opportunities to take your growth to the next level.
Good automation doesn't require 6-figure software or a development team. With the right know-how and a few intelligently selected systems, smaller marketing teams can have the impact of teams 10x their size. Let's take a look at your marketing and see where we can scale your efforts.
After successfully building and selling an agency, I learned that a large part of success is the right mindset - handling stress, making decisions under fire, and more. Running an agency isn't easy, but how you think through it can make a big difference.
Getting pricing right can make a bigger impact than almost any other element of your agency. There are many options including hourly, fixed-bid, value pricing, points, and more. Let's connect and find out which combination makes the most sense for you.
Is it HR? I bet it's HR. In all seriousness, being a business leader isn't easy. It's high pressure and lonely. Luckily, there are others out there that get it and have an outside perspective that may be what you need to resolve that frustration. Other times, you just need to get it off your chest.
From building out our accountability charts to developing my high-level delivery processes to technical specifications for various tooling, I was creating. Miro has always been my go-to tool for sketching out processes and how we do things.
I built a couple simple tools in Replit, including an employee directory that I rolled out across the portfolio agencies and relied upon for both leadership decision making, as well as standard user access across the team to identify who has what skill sets and experiences for task assignments. This tool became increasingly important as our agency's growth.
Developing organizational best practices and standards as a pillar of utilizing AI, rolling out across the portfolio of agencies. Some of this included training documentation and how to integrate it with the other tools we use.
HubSpot is the go-to CRM for many businesses, and for good reason. It's fairly simple and scalable. I have set up, configured, and managed HubSpot for many client's over the years, and I am happy to see how you can better use it.
I have helped several SaaS companies launch their product and dozens more scale to the next level through various lead generation activities. In SaaS, marketing has an even bigger, full-funnel job in taking someone who doesn't even know about the product through demos/trials/etc, nurturing that relationship, and turning them into paid customers. It's a data-filled journey I enjoy going on with clients.
In the SBM world, it's even more critical that every dollar invested has a return. I specialize in working with these smaller-budget organizations to creatively develop their MarTech stack and get the results they need.
Highly technical products in the cloud computing space require someone who actually understands the product. Otherwise, content creation, messaging, and other critical elements of marketing fall flat. I love learning about these new products and figuring out how to take these complicated products, craft messaging that fits the audience, and get that message in front of the right people to drive sales.
Artificial intelligence is hot right now, but it's been growing in prominence for many years. I have worked with various types of AI products for almost a decade as both an advisor and consultant as the industry starts to mature and love being on the frontier of the tech space.
For years I have owned and consulted with different types of agencies to help them scale, exit, or simply get more freedom from the day-to-day. I believe that owners should focus on running their company, not fighting its fires.
Most of my career has been in the consulting space whether owning, advising, or simply consulting with them. I believe in the power of an individual to really shape companies. If they're supported by the right systems, teams, and infrastructure to disconnect a one-to-one relationship between their time and the revenue that they get.
Scaling AboundUp, an operational growth partner to service business owners who want to step back from daily operations, scale profitably, and maximize business value. Focused on building scalable processes, improving efficiency, and strengthening the systems that support both our team and our clients.
I partner with a small roster of professional-services firms (marketing agencies, automation shops, financial consultants, and other B2B service providers) to eliminate operational bottlenecks and unlock sustainable growth.
Arachnid Works is a strategic growth partner that helps businesses expand their market presence and drive measurable results. We combine data-driven marketing with creative excellence to deliver integrated solutions across digital strategy, brand development, and media execution. We focus on high-impact strategies that elevate brands, engage customers, and accelerate business growth. My role centers on operational strategy, project delivery infrastructure, resourcing and capacity, and financial performance—allowing the team to scale efficiently without compromising results.
Advise on positioning, messaging, product development, and early go-to-market strategy.
Running operations across a growing portfolio of companies as we continue to acquire leading agencies in the B2B Tech space.
Alongside my partner, we scaled New North to become a household name in the B2B technology marketing space. I focused on the operations side of the business, which culminated in a successful exit in early 2023 to another player in the same space.
Working with the Paid Media team, I worked to develop content, run A/B tests, and review analytics for clients across a variety of industries.
Working with automative repair shops, Auto Social Online created and managed social media accounts to drive leads and provide an online presence for clients in a competitive market.
Connected and developed relationships with real estate agents, insurance agents, financial professionals, and small business owners to help them stay in contact with past clients and prospects on a regular basis by sending them a free bimonthly subscription to their own personally branded magazine.
My job is to determine the success of various alternative distribution initiatives and recommend changes/improvements to achieve membership growth.
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