How to Scale an 8 Figure Agency 🚀

Jordan Ross
  • 5.0 (10)
  • ENTREPRENEURSHIP
  • UPDATED DAILY

Welcome to How to Scale an 8-Figure Agency, the show where I break down the exact operational, financial, and AI-driven systems that today’s top marketing agencies use to scale past seven figures — without burning out or getting trapped in fulfillment. Every week, we go deep into: • AI consulting for marketing agencies • Operational infrastructure that actually scales • Building automations, workflows, and agent-based systems • Hiring and training world-class teams • Improving margins, capacity, and client LTV • Turning your agency into an 8-figure operation that runs without you If you’re a founder stuck in the weeds, capped by systems, or wondering how to integrate AI into your agency the right way… this podcast is your blueprint. I’m Jordan Ross — founder of 8 Figure Agency and the person behind hundreds of successful agency scale-ups — and this is where we turn chaos into clarity, and CEOs into true operators. Let’s get into it.

  1. How Advertising & Marketing Agencies Turn 100+ Leads a Week Into Booked Calls — The GoHighLevel SDR Pipeline (ft. Dylan Rich)

    1D AGO

    How Advertising & Marketing Agencies Turn 100+ Leads a Week Into Booked Calls — The GoHighLevel SDR Pipeline (ft. Dylan Rich)

    Learn how to use AI to Buy Agencies: https://value.8figureagency.co/MNA Systemized Sales (done-for-you sales teams): systemizedsales.com Revphlo.com (post-call sales attribution — works with GoHighLevel & HubSpot) Dylan on X: @sdrwhisperer Most agencies are sitting on a goldmine and treating it like a junk drawer. That was the exact problem on the table. A giveaway funnel pulling 100+ emails a week. 300 to 500 comments a post on X. Newsletter readers. Ad clickers who never book. Five different lists, none of them talking to each other. A great setter could go to work on that data and print money — if anyone had organized it. So Jordan brought in Dylan Rich, founder of Systemized Sales. Dylan runs 10 sales teams at once, end to end — name, email, phone number all the way to contract signed and cash collected. In 15 years of sales and seven years working with agencies, this is the most sophisticated GoHighLevel pipeline either of them has seen. They build it live: UTM attribution per post, the "tattoo" rule for tags vs. custom fields, an action-based lead score that pings a setter the second a lead crosses 6 points, a speed-to-lead workflow with 73 million enrollments, and 57 smart lists ranked P1 through P5 so setters never waste a minute guessing who to call. Then Dylan opens up Revphlow — the post-call attribution tool that kills the EOD form forever and tells you your cash per call by traffic source, by closer, by calendar. If you run organic and paid traffic into a sales team, this is the playbook. What You'll Learn The "tattoo" rule — when to use a tag (permanent) vs. a custom field (rewrites itself), and why getting this wrong wrecks your data One pipeline beats five — why segmented pipelines cap your granularity, and how custom fields + tags + stages stack to do the real work Lead scoring that runs itself — assign points to actions (email open = 1, application = 3, call booked = 5), and auto-trigger a setter call at a score of 6 Speed-to-lead you can actually measure — a workflow that timestamps every lead and counts only during setter working hours, so a Saturday opt-in doesn't blow up your numbers 57 smart lists, ranked P1–P5 — how setters work the right leads in the right order and never run dry between fresh leads Ask for the phone number — "if you won't give me your phone number, you won't give me your credit card," and why fewer, higher-quality leads win Post-call notes (PCN) — auto-dispositioned call notes pulled from the Zoom transcript that update pipeline stages for you, so closers stop skipping the EOD form Cash per call by source — the metric that tells you which ads, threads, and posts to make more of (and which to kill) Chapters — Why scaling SDRs is the hardest (and most profitable) thing an agency can do — Who is Dylan Rich: 15 years in sales, done-for-you teams at Systemized Sales — The real problem: a giveaway funnel pulling 100+ emails a week, five siloed lists — How to organize intent leads so setters book more calls per hour — UTMs per post, the Zap into GoHighLevel, and tagging the first click — Live build: one pipeline + custom fields for granularity — Lead categories that follow a contact all the way down the funnel — Tags vs. custom fields: the "tattoo" concept explained — Lead scoring: assigning points to actions and triggering at 6 — The speed-to-lead workflow with 73 million enrollments — Keeping setters organized so they stop thinking and start dialing — 57 smart lists ranked P1–P5, built on filters, not vibes — Why you should ask for a phone number on every opt-in — "Can we blow your socks off?" — the Revphlow post-call attribution demo — PCN, Zoom + Fathom + Slack: clean dispositions on every call — Cash per call by source, by closer, by calendar — Where to find Revphlow and Systemized Sales Go AI-Native in the Next 90 Days This episode is the manual setup. The next level is making it run itself. 8 Figure Agency installs AI-native systems into 7- and 8-figure marketing agencies — the kind that add $1M in annualized profit. Attribution that tags itself. Pipelines that update without a human touching them. Setters fed the highest-intent leads automatically. If you want your agency AI-native in the next 90 days, start here: → 8figureagency.co Work With Dylan Dylan and the Systemized Sales team run your sales process end to end — they listen to your calls, audit your CRM, review your last 90 days of sales and marketing numbers, find your biggest constraint, and fix it. Systemized Sales (done-for-you sales teams): systemizedsales.com Revphlo.com (post-call sales attribution — works with GoHighLevel & HubSpot) Dylan on X: @sdrwhisperer Tools & Resources Mentioned GoHighLevel — the CRM the whole pipeline is built in RevFlow / revphlo.com — post-call attribution and sales analytics Typeform — opt-in forms (add a hidden UTM source field) Beehiiv — newsletter platform, with email opens webhooked back to GHL for lead scoring HYROS — marketing attribution into the call Zoom + Fathom — call recording and transcripts feeding the PCN Slack — where post-call notes drop for closer confirmation Vidalytics — VSL view tracking UTM Builder (utmbuilder.net) — Jordan's no-affiliation pick for building UTMs

    45 min
  2. Claude Skills, AI Agents & The Build vs. Buy Decision for Marketing Agencies

    MAY 18

    Claude Skills, AI Agents & The Build vs. Buy Decision for Marketing Agencies

    FREE DOWNLOAD: How to Set Up the Hermes Agent → https://value.8figureagency.co/hermes Ready to become an AI-native agency? Book a call at 8figureagency.co Guest: Ben Fisher, founder of Skinny and Bald. Hampton member. Been coding since fifth grade. Has been CEO twice, CTO three times. Describes himself as 60% product, 40% engineer. The pull: Ben is one of the sharpest guys in the Hampton AI channel. This is his second time on the pod. Jordan came with real questions about funnels, databases, and skills — Ben answered live, then pulled up his actual meeting-processing skill on screen share. What we covered The build vs. buy question. Jordan’s giveaway funnel pulls comments → emails → form fills → booked calls across LinkedIn and X, six campaigns a week. His partner said use GoHighLevel. Ben’s framing: build custom with Claude when you control the maintenance, use a tool when it solves 80%+ without workarounds. Texting is the exception — Twilio’s regulatory rabbit hole can eat days even with Claude Code. Databases and custom funnels. Jordan wants the funnel experience to mirror what the user clicked — landing page copy, follow-up sequence, everything. Ben’s example: he still uses Kit.com for his newsletter, but layered custom API logic on top. He didn’t rebuild Kit. He enriched it. The thing that separates real builders from vibe coders. “What distinguishes really effective builders really comes down to workflow.” Same models. Same Claude. Different results because of how people work. Ben’s non-negotiable: test-driven development. Plan first. Write the tests. Then build. Otherwise Claude tells you it shipped something that doesn’t exist. The “your friend Ben is absolutely correct” story. Hampton buddy building a chief of staff agent in Slack and WhatsApp. Asked Claude if it was secure. Claude said yes. Ben listed four gaps. Buddy pasted Ben’s message into Claude. Claude wrote back: “Your friend Ben is absolutely correct. We don’t do this, this, this, and this.” Lesson: you cannot ask the AI to verify the AI. Claude Skills, real talk. Skills are mostly plain English text files the AI reads. They get highly personal fast — Ben said his public repo of skills is becoming less useful to others because the nuances are his. Best move for most people: use someone else’s skill as a reference, have Claude analyze how it works, then build your own flavor. Ben’s content-from-meetings workflow (live demo). Fireflies records every call → transcripts get stored as markdown files in a local folder → a Claude skill called process meeting notes runs on demand, pulls the last 3 days, formats each meeting in EOS Level 10 format (clear accountability, agreements, action items), and routes to-dos to the right project repo. Why local files instead of remote Fireflies calls? Speed. His second brain reads disk faster than it makes API calls across nine months of transcripts. Writing in your voice with AI. Ben studied journalism and advertising. He uses Claude as a sparring partner first, last-mile editor second. Reference for anyone serious about this: every.to publishes their full editorial AI process, including how to build an anti-AI style guide. Ben also actively removes em-dashes from his AI output now because they’ve become the tell. Markdown files as the convention. .md is what the AI world runs on. Pound signs for headers, asterisks for bold. Doesn’t really matter if you use .txt or .docx — but markdown gives the AI hierarchy it can parse. Tools and references mentioned Fireflies, Claude Code, N8N, Zapier, Kit.com, GoHighLevel, Twilio, Obsidian, every.to, Superpowers (Claude skill harness), Hampton, EOS Level 10 format, Ruben’s “How AI” Substack. Where to find Ben skinnyandbald.com — consulting offers dearben.ai — Ben’s AI podcast where execs submit questions and he answers live with screen share, plus his newsletter Ready to build an AI-native agency that runs on systems, not scrambling? 8 Figure Agency helps seven-figure agency owners install the agents, automations, and AI workflows that turn your team into a 10x operation. Done-for-you implementation starting at $2K/month. Book your call: 8figureagency.co value.8figureagency.co hermes This playbook shows you the exact stack. Install instructions, the 30-day roadmap, the five daily prompts that turn your agent into a second brain, and eight use cases pulled straight from agencies doing it right now. 8figureagency.co AI Solutions for Marketing Agencies | 8figure agency Optimize your marketing agency with our AI solutions. Join 1,000+ agencies and scale your revenue today! every.to Every Every — The only subscription you need to stay at the edge of AI. Ideas, apps, and training from practitioners who build with AI daily. http://every.to/ skinnyandbald.com Ben Fisher I help companies figure out where AI fits — and then build it.

    48 min
  3. How Jon Bond Built a Billion Dollar Ad Agency (And What He'd Do Different Today)

    MAY 11

    How Jon Bond Built a Billion Dollar Ad Agency (And What He'd Do Different Today)

    Free Download — The Hermes Agent Playbook Learn how to set up the Hermes Agent to automate your agency. 👉 https://value.8figureagency.co/hermes Episode Summary Most agency owners can't picture hitting $100M. Jon Bond hit a billion. Jon co-founded Kirshenbaum Bond in his 20s — when starting an ad agency that young was so absurd, the New York Times literally wrote that the editor had socks older than the firm. They scaled it to $1 billion a year in revenue with clients like BMW ($25M/year), Wendy's ($11M/year), and Revlon ($9M/year), then exited. In this episode, Jon breaks down the principles that actually got him there — tip of the spear positioning, culture as a growth lever, near-future betting, and the offer structure he'd use if he had to do it all over again in 2026. Plus the immortal advice from his consultant: "Resist the temptation to f**k mice." If you run a marketing agency stuck in the $1–3M "business purgatory" range, this one's for you. What You'll Learn Why "fame before fortune" still works — and why Jon spent the early years getting press before chasing big logos The "tip of the spear" rule — why being able to do everything is killing your agency, and how to find the one thing Google ranks you for How Jon turned clients into his banker — the freelance-first model he used to spin out 5 sub-agencies inside one umbrella The pay-on-performance offer Jon would build today — and the math that lets you charge more than any agency ever has "Resist the temptation to f**k mice" — the line from his consultant that changed how Jon picked clients When culture stops being automatic — the exact size threshold where you have to start engineering it The Drinks Trolley story — why 150 ex-employees still show up to the same bar a decade after the agency was merged into oblivion Near-future betting — the framework Jon uses to spot the next wave (and how he hosted a marketing AI conference 3 months before ChatGPT dropped, to an empty room) Why he's "0 for 3 on Harvard people" — and what he hires for instead Why 100% remote is killing agency culture — and the founder who used to put on a suit to work alone in a spare room About Jon Bond Jon Bond is the co-founder of Kirshenbaum Bond, the agency he built from the ground up in his 20s and scaled to $1B/year in revenue. Today, he advises founders on marketing, does board work, and invests in companies he can also help market. Painfully hip, refuses to fit in, has had 20 minutes with Barbara Walters on national TV. Connect with Jon: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jonbond (he's nearly capped at 30,000 connections — be quick) Email: jon@bondsworld.ai About the Host — Jordan Ross Jordan Ross is the founder of 8 Figure Agency, the AI consulting and dev firm for marketing agencies. He helps 7- and 8-figure agency owners install AI-native systems that remove the founder from day-to-day operations and add seven figures of EBITDA without adding headcount. His clients collectively generate over $1B in annual revenue. Connect with Jordan: Website: 8figureagency.co Free Hermes Agent Playbook: value.8figureagency.co/hermes LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jordan-ross-8fa X / Twitter: @jordanrosslevi Want to Automate Your Agency? The Hermes Agent is the open-source AI agent framework built specifically for marketing agencies. SQLite memory. 40+ tools out of the box. OpenRouter integration. Built by agency owners, for agency owners. Download the free Hermes Agent Playbook → value.8figureagency.co/hermes Learn the exact setup, prompts, and architecture our clients are using to automate their agency operations.

    51 min
  4. How to Use Arc Ads + AI UGC to Scale Ad, Seo & Tiktok Agencies

    MAY 4

    How to Use Arc Ads + AI UGC to Scale Ad, Seo & Tiktok Agencies

    Figure out what you need to use for your AI tech stack: https://value.8figureagency.co/topai Jordan sits down with Noah Friedberg, founder of Maverick Creative, to break down how marketing agencies and ecom brands are using Arc Ads and AI UGC creators to drive viral content at scale. Noah walks through a live demo of Arc Ads, shares the framework his clients use to hit eight figures on TikTok Shop, and explains where AI replaces human influencers — and where it doesn't. If you run an agency or ecom brand and want to understand the AI UGC opportunity, this one's for you. Timestamps (00:00) Intro: Why AI UGC is the fastest path to going viral (00:54) Noah's background — Maverick Creative, TikTok Shop, working with 7-8 figure ecom brands (03:14) The mindset shift: volume, shots on net, and why one $25K influencer video is a billboard, not a sales channel (04:00) The 12,000 videos = $3M framework from TikTok Shop (05:38) Case study: Launching an 8-figure Amazon brand on TikTok Shop in under 3 months (06:48) Why Arc Ads vs. other AI video platforms ("the Apple of its category") (08:51) Live Arc Ads demo: Going from nothing to a finished AI UGC video (10:25) Script strategy: Using authority figures (e.g., AI doctor) to build trust and call out your ICP (13:21) The most complex AI UGC formats: cartoons, green screens, B-roll + talking head combos (14:40) Does AI UGC work for service businesses and agencies? (Yes — credit repair, info, low-ticket offers) (15:36) Building an AI influencer for an agency from scratch (warmed-up pages, US-hosted iPhones, full funnel) (19:15) When you outgrow Arc Ads: custom workflows with Claude Code, multi-tool stacks, B-roll generation (22:44) Why workflow automation matters — content running 24/7 without human touch (23:42) Scale numbers: 50-60 accounts per brand, 10 videos per page per day, up to 550 videos/day (25:00) The biggest mistake brands make: confusing one viral video with a real system (26:21) How Noah measures data at scale (Kalodata, social one, competitor analysis) (28:20) Why "set it and forget it" AI is a myth — the human strategy layer still wins Key Takeaways Volume beats prestige. A single $20–25K influencer video is essentially a billboard. A few thousand AI UGC videos at a few dollars each gives you orders of magnitude more shots on net. Quality at volume is the unlock. The 12K videos = $3M framework only works when each video meets a real quality bar — trash content at scale doesn't move revenue. Arc Ads is the entry point. Easy, fast, cheap, realistic talking-head videos. But for B-roll, cartoons, and custom stitched workflows, you need agentic tools like Claude Code on top. Systematize, don't celebrate. Most brands hit one viral video and assume that's the new normal. Without a system, 80% of revenue keeps coming from one creator or one format. AI doesn't replace strategy. Brands that try to "set and forget" AI workflows fail. The human guiding hand — script direction, competitor analysis, taste — is still where the edge lives. Resources & Tools Mentioned Arc Ads — arcads.ai Whisper Flow — for dictating scripts Claude Code — for custom AI UGC workflows n8n — automation Kalodata, Social One — data and trend analysis tools Connect with Noah Website: maverickcreative.net DMs: @NoahFriedberg on all platforms

    29 min
  5. How To Make $70K From a Live Event Without Selling Tickets (Step-by-Step Guide)

    APR 27

    How To Make $70K From a Live Event Without Selling Tickets (Step-by-Step Guide)

    Figure out the next 5 things to build using AI: https://value.8figureagency.co/constraint In this episode, Jordan Ross breaks down exactly how he hosted a high-level live event with 100+ qualified agency owners—and made over $70,000 in profit without relying on ticket sales. If you’ve ever thought about hosting your own event but feared losing money, low turnout, or poor execution, this episode gives you the full A–Z playbook. Jordan shares the behind-the-scenes strategy that turned his event from a potential $14K loss into a profitable, repeatable system you can use in your own business.

    22 min
  6. How to Get $100K in Emergency Business Capital for 2.5%

    APR 2

    How to Get $100K in Emergency Business Capital for 2.5%

    Want to build a 1-person AI-powered team? Start here → https://value.8figureagency.co/1personteam How to Access $100K in Capital for Only 2.5% | Mind Vitamin Most founders panic when cash runs dry — and panic is expensive. Jordan shares the exact system he knew but forgot to use when someone stole every dollar from his business bank account, forcing him to cover payroll overnight at a brutal 22% rate. In this episode, he breaks down the two-part capital strategy he teaches other founders so you never have to make that same mistake. What's covered: Why quick capital solutions (MCAs, short-term loans) will cost you 20–30% and how to avoid them The 0% APR credit card strategy for funding $40–60K in marketing tests with zero interest How to consolidate unused credit limits across Chase cards to unlock six-figure availability ZillMoney.com — the tool that lets you run payroll through a credit card for just 2.5% The auto-payment rule you must follow or the whole strategy blows up at month 12 How Jordan uses the same system to travel business class and five-star for free Resources mentioned: Zill Money: https://zilmoney.com/ref/zil-AdB71k 8figureagency.co

    12 min
  7. How a 23-Year-Old Klaviyo Agency Hit $500K/Month: Talent Acquisition, Pricing Strategy & the Founder QC System That Scales

    MAR 23

    How a 23-Year-Old Klaviyo Agency Hit $500K/Month: Talent Acquisition, Pricing Strategy & the Founder QC System That Scales

    Grab free resource here: https://t.co/QyzZzPY7uA Max, founder of WellCopy, runs one of the fastest-growing email and SMS marketing agencies in the e-commerce space — 130+ retainer clients, 70 employees, and a jump from $30K/month to $500K/month in 24 months. He's 23. Jordan sits down with Max to break down exactly how he's doing it — before he hits eight figures — so you can steal what's working. What we cover: — The founder QC system: why Max personally reviews thousands of emails every week and why pulling back too early kills culture before it scales — Talent acquisition at the mid-seven-figure bottleneck: internal recruiters, employee referral programs with tiered incentives, and VSLs for every open role — The 10-80-10 rule for delegating without losing standards — How WellCopy grew from $3.2K to $5.8K average monthly retainer — and why every dollar of that increase is pure margin — Building roles around your people instead of forcing people into roles — Running a month-long waitlist with zero paid ads — Launching a done-with-you coaching program that sold out in 24 hours The bottom line: Max's unfair advantage isn't demand — it's standards. And he built those standards by never fully letting go of the work. If you're running a service agency between $1M–$5M and want to build the operational foundation to actually hit eight figures, that's exactly what we work on at 8figureagency.co. Follow Max: Twitter @maxwellcopy | Instagram @wellcopymax | wellcopy.net

    29 min
  8. AI in Ad & SEO Agencies: The 2026 State of the Union

    MAR 13

    AI in Ad & SEO Agencies: The 2026 State of the Union

    learn how to use claude code here: https://leads.8figureagency.co/ai-agency-client-deliverables-claude-code The AI landscape is moving fast — and most ad and SEO agencies are either overwhelmed, underinformed, or both. In this episode, Jordan Ross breaks down the real state of the union for marketing agencies navigating AI adoption in 2026. No hype. No fluff. Just an honest look at what's actually changing, what's worth your attention, and how to think about building an AI-native agency without creating chaos. What we cover: The agency fluidity problem — why most agencies are stuck with 10 people in 10 different stacks and how to fix it MCP servers — what they are and why they matter for agency operations DIY with Claude Code — when it makes sense to build vs. buy AI agents — how they're changing the way agency workflows actually run AI marketplaces — what's emerging and how to evaluate what's worth testing Y Combinator — what the latest batch signals about where the industry is heading The cultural and managerial layer — why tool adoption alone won't save you Resources & Links: 🌐 Learn more: 8figureagency.co 📩 Work with Jordan: jordan@8figureagency.co

    15 min
See All (490)

5
out of 5
10 Ratings

About

Welcome to How to Scale an 8-Figure Agency, the show where I break down the exact operational, financial, and AI-driven systems that today’s top marketing agencies use to scale past seven figures — without burning out or getting trapped in fulfillment. Every week, we go deep into: • AI consulting for marketing agencies • Operational infrastructure that actually scales • Building automations, workflows, and agent-based systems • Hiring and training world-class teams • Improving margins, capacity, and client LTV • Turning your agency into an 8-figure operation that runs without you If you’re a founder stuck in the weeds, capped by systems, or wondering how to integrate AI into your agency the right way… this podcast is your blueprint. I’m Jordan Ross — founder of 8 Figure Agency and the person behind hundreds of successful agency scale-ups — and this is where we turn chaos into clarity, and CEOs into true operators. Let’s get into it.

Information

You Might Also Like