Agency Advantage

Brad Starnes
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  • Marketing

Most agency owners don't have a marketing problem. They have a delegation problem. You started your agency for freedom, and somewhere along the way you became the bottleneck. Every deliverable runs through you. Every fire gets put out by you. Growth just means more work. The UnF*cked Agency is the show for agency owners ready to fix that. Every week, host Brad Starnes sits down with the operators, founders, and specialists who've cracked it: people who built teams that actually deliver without the owner buried in the work. We get into the real stuff like delegation, hiring, systems, retention, and the boring infrastructure that quietly scales an agency. It's honest, occasionally uncomfortable, and built for owners who want an agency that runs without them.

Episodes

  1. 4d ago

    He Stopped Answering His Clients' Phones. A Third of His Revenue Walked. | James Donovan

    Send us Fan Mail What would you cut from your agency if your peace of mind was on the line? In this episode of the Agency Advantage Podcast, Brad Starnes sits down with James Donovan, owner of Accounting Leads Now, to unpack how an agency doing marketing, VA work, and inbound phone answering for $1,500 a month hit a breaking point, the decision to stop answering clients' phones even though it cost him about a third of his revenue, and the rebrand that turned Nine Two Media and CFO Chronicles into Accounting Leads Now. James didn't start in accounting. After a layoff he was biking door to door in Toronto, working with hair salons, massage therapists, and cleaning companies, until a friend told him the same playbook could work for accounting firms nationwide. Years later his team had drifted into being three businesses at once. Every day the fires had been burning for hours before anyone logged on, and he says he was the worst version of himself to everyone around him. This past winter, after leaning on his Seven Figure Agency coaches, he told clients the phone answering was ending. Many left. He talks about the relief that came after, why he now leads with local service ads and lower-ticket bookkeeping and monthly accounting work, and why he's too stubborn to quit. In this conversation, Brad and James discuss: Getting laid off, knocking on doors in Toronto, and landing in the accounting niche Why selling fractional CFO services to cold leads takes so much education Local service ads and the lower-ticket "Trojan horse" offer Hitting a hard deadline to finish his book, Booked Solid The word of mouth myth that accounting firm owners keep repeating Doing way too much for way too little, and the day he stopped answering client phones Losing about a third of revenue and what came after Rebranding from Nine Two Media and CFO Chronicles to Accounting Leads Now Telling the difference between being stubborn and needing to let go Don't say someone else's no for them Timestamps: [00:00] - Agency Advantage intro [00:28] - Meet James Donovan, owner of Accounting Leads Now [01:45] - A layoff, door knocking in Toronto, and the 40 mile radius [02:30] - A friend's nudge into accounting and the ERTC wave [04:03] - Why fractional CFO leads were hard to sell [05:17] - Local service ads and the Trojan horse offer [07:07] - Four rocks a quarter and the deadline that finished his book [08:55] - Brad's $30 mic podcast launch: just execute [10:53] - The word of mouth myth in accounting firms [12:00] - Tax season referrals and the other nine months [13:37] - Doing way too much for way too little [14:42] - Daily fires and the worst version of himself [15:04] - The coaches' reaction and ending the phone answering [16:27] - The thought process behind the cut [17:51] - Losing a third of revenue and the relief after [20:19] - What is your peace of mind worth? [20:33] - Brad's own pivot and James flips the question [24:25] - Rebranding a podcast mid-stream [25:31] - Nine Two Media to Accounting Leads Now [27:01] - "We're not Coca-Cola" [29:34] - Too stubborn to quit [31:59] - How to know what to let go [32:36] - The F1 analogy: let go to go faster [34:18] - Don't say someone else's no for them [36:42] - Where James is still the bottleneck [39:12] - Believe in yourself and do the work CONNECT WITH BRAD: Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/BradStarnesOfficial/ Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/bradstarnesofficial/ LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradstarnesofficial/ CONNECT WITH JAMES: Accounting Leads Now → https://accountingleadsnow.com The Accounting Leads Now Podcast → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-accounting-leads-now-podcast/id1760779231 Booked Solid (book) → https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F4KQ3TZ2 LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesbdonovan/ CONTACT: TalentFuze → https://talentfuze.io Book a call → http://bradstarnes.fyi/talentfuze/ #AgencyAdvantage #JamesDonovan #AccountingLeadsNow #AccountingMarketing #AgencyOwner #AgencyGrowth #MarketingAgency #Rebrand #SevenFigureAgency #NicheMarketing Are you an agency owner that is looking to scale through global talent? Connect with us at talentfuze.io or join our free Facebook group, The Agency Advantage: https://www.facebook.com/groups/youragencyadvantage/ Are you an agency owner that is looking to scale through global talent? Connect with us at talentfuze.io or join our free Facebook group, The Agency Advantage: https://www.facebook.com/groups/youragencyadvantage/

  2. Oct 1

    From $7K MRR to $200K, One Medal at a Time | Luke Eggebraaten

    Send us Fan Mail Luke Eggebraaten started out flipping go-karts, dune buggies, and beer vending machines on Craigslist in college. He figured if it didn't sell, he'd use it anyway. He ended up as director of marketing at an orthodontics practice, where his whole job was being the liaison to the marketing agency they hired. Watching that agency make him look good from across the country is what made him think he could do it too. He started Phaser Marketing on the side in 2019 and ran it that way for two years, cash flow positive from month one, paying himself nothing. What made him finally quit wasn't a revenue milestone. It was a friend at a bar in Omaha asking why he didn't just go full time, and him not having an answer. Today Phaser serves excavation, septic, and hardscaping companies, about 120 of them, at roughly $200K in monthly recurring revenue with a team of 31. The centerpiece of this episode is the part most agency owners never hear laid out honestly: how he moved off white label. At seven figures he was spending $50K a month with two white label partners. He spent 14 months migrating clients in batches of four or five, roughly $2K of billing per batch, hiring one specialist per ten clients as he went. Gross margin went from about 40% to 60%. Net went from about 15% to between 25 and 30%. In this episode: Why he built a business bank account instead of paying himself for two years The exact numbers he had when he quit his job, and why he says most people shouldn't copy him What he means by desperation being a smelly cologne, and why he kept a job to avoid it Why he collected every medal in the Seven Figure Agency program on purpose instead of sprinting The batch-by-batch math of moving 120 clients from white label to an in-house team Why marketing getting diluted is good news if you're actually creative The two things still on his plate that he can't delegate, and neither one is client work Timestamps 00:00 Intro 01:34 Go-karts, dune buggies, and beer vending machines on Craigslist 02:34 Director of marketing at an orthodontics practice, and the agency that inspired him 03:03 Starting Phaser in 2019: real estate, demolition, oil field, garage door, and a party bus company 03:47 His wife's job at Carvana, the move to Arizona, and going full time 04:01 Joining Seven Figure Agency and niching into the dirt world 04:30 Where Phaser is today: 120 clients, $200K MRR, 31 team members 05:23 The question at the bar he couldn't answer 05:52 The actual numbers when he quit: $7K MRR, $6K in projects, $8K in the bank 09:14 Who should quit their job and who absolutely should not 11:20 Finding Seven Figure Agency, Josh's book, and the invite from Tony Ricketts 12:46 Why he collected every medal instead of sprinting to seven figures 13:40 What having a coach actually gets you 15:39 "There is no making it" 16:38 Problems get bigger as you grow, but growing is still nicer 17:58 Desperation is a smelly cologne 21:03 Being willing to tell a prospect no 23:16 Marketing your own agency: put the mirror up first 24:42 Why diluted marketing is good news for creative people 26:50 The 80/20 content rule and why most people have it backwards 28:01 Building a personal brand and a company brand that feed each other 29:45 How to run a white label relationship well, and how most agencies blow it 31:30 The margins before the transition: 40% gross, 15% net 32:08 The batch method: five clients at a time, $2K per batch, one hire per ten clients 33:05 Where the margins landed after 37:03 The two things he still can't get off his plate CONNECT WITH BRAD: Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/BradStarnesOfficial/ Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/bradstarnesofficial/ LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradstarnesofficial/ CONNECT WITH LUKE: Phaser Marketing → https://phasermarketing.com Dirt Bags Podcast → https://dirtbagspodcast.com LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-eggebraaten/ CONTACT: TalentFuze → https://talentfuze.io Book a call → http://bradstarnes.fyi/talentfuze/ #AgencyAdvantage #LukeEggebraaten #PhaserMarketing #DirtWorld #ExcavationMarketing #WhiteLabel #AgencyGrowth #NicheMarketing #MarketingAgency #AgencyOwner Are you an agency owner that is looking to scale through global talent? Connect with us at talentfuze.io or join our free Facebook group, The Agency Advantage: https://www.facebook.com/groups/youragencyadvantage/

  3. Sep 24

    The Agency That Paid Everybody But Her

    Send us Fan Mail What happens when you cut your team in half and finally pay yourself more than you made in the OR? In this episode of the Agency Advantage Podcast, Brad Starnes sits down with Nisha Ryan, Founder and CEO of The Aligned Pretzel Inc, to unpack a car-accident origin story, the six-person payroll that left her working 16-hour days for less than nursing pay, and the boundaries that rebuilt the agency around a lean team of three. Nisha never planned to start an agency. She was an operating room nurse until she was rear-ended at a red light on her day off. She couldn't work, she'd just finished a yoga teacher certification, so she started teaching online. People asked how she built her website and got paid. She posted that she was opening VA services and had five clients by the end of that day. Ten years later she runs The Aligned Pretzel for online educators, web, funnels, paid ads, and organic social. The middle of that story is the part most agency owners will recognize: saying yes to every client request, stacking people to support the work, and watching margins disappear. What changed wasn't a new offer. It was boundaries, ownership on the team, a January rate-increase schedule, and choosing not to grow just because she could. She's also a single mom to a nearly three-year-old, so the business had to fit a life that can't absorb 16-hour days. In this conversation, Brad and Nisha discuss: Twenty years of origin pressure compressed into one accident-to-agency path The gap between consulting and implementation, and rebuilding the offer around it Her first retainer: $1,000 a month for up to 40 hours of funnels, email, and social Being the yes woman, and how that stacked six people onto the payroll Raising rates every January on a schedule so the conversation stops being scary Auditing costs outside of labor and cutting overlapping software "Whatever we normalize, our clients think is normal" Giving the team ownership instead of routing everything through the founder Why this isn't her season for growth, and why revenue is still at its highest Capping new clients at one or two a month on purpose Asking Kajabi's head of marketing for a stage, and getting flown to headquarters Timestamps: [00:00] - Agency Advantage intro  [01:53] - The car accident that started everything  [04:40] - First clients, coaches and educators, and Kajabi expert recognition [05:41] - The gap between consulting and implementation  [08:43] - First retainer: $1,000 a month for up to 40 hours  [11:23] - Being the yes woman and stacking six people on payroll  [12:20] - Where to automate versus where to lead  [14:34] - Raising rates every January on a schedule  [16:00] - Auditing costs outside of labor  [21:18] - Less involved than ever, and why single motherhood forced it  [22:14] - "Whatever we normalize, our clients think is normal"  [23:11] - Giving the team ownership  [28:25] - Delegating in her personal life, and the guilt that comes with it  [32:00] - The message she sent Brad about what's holding her back  [33:26] - Why this isn't her season for growth  [35:47] - Growing on purpose at one or two clients a month  [40:45] - Advice for anyone starting out: minimum viable, then ask  [41:50] - Asking Kajabi for a stage and getting flown to headquarters CONNECT WITH BRAD: Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/BradStarnesOfficial/ Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/bradstarnesofficial/ LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradstarnesofficial/ CONNECT WITH NISHA: The Aligned Pretzel → https://thealignedpretzel.co Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/thealignedpretzelinc/ YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@thealignedpretzel LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/nisharyan/ CONTACT: TalentFuze → https://talentfuze.io Book a call → http://bradstarnes.fyi/talentfuze/ #AgencyAdvantage #NishaRyan #TheAlignedPretzel #AgencyOwner #Boundaries #AgencyGrowth Are you an agency owner that is looking to scale through global talent? Connect with us at talentfuze.io or join our free Facebook group, The Agency Advantage: https://www.facebook.com/groups/youragencyadvantage/ Are you an agency owner that is looking to scale through global talent? Connect with us at talentfuze.io or join our free Facebook group, The Agency Advantage: https://www.facebook.com/groups/youragencyadvantage/

  4. Sep 17

    He Sold His Agency in May. By October He Was CEO of 800 Shops. | Jono Long

    Send us Fan Mail What happens when you sell the agency you built, then buy one you didn't? In this episode of the Agency Advantage Podcast, Brad Starnes sits down with Jono Long, CEO of Leads Near Me, to unpack 20 years as a Metro Atlanta youth pastor, a $300-a-month Facebook side hustle that paid the mortgage, and the decision to acquire a ten-year-old auto repair marketing firm instead of starting over. Jono sold his church-niche agency in May 2025, then partnered to buy Leads Near Me that October. He walked in as CEO of a team he didn't hire and clients he didn't sell. The agency markets for 800-plus independent auto shops. He talks through splitting fulfillment off the phones, hiring marketing coaches, standing up pods, and why buying beats starting from scratch when the problems are fundamental and the business is already profitable. In this conversation, Brad and Jono discuss: Twenty years in youth ministry and the side hustle that became an agency Why COVID doubled his book instead of wiping it out Niching into restoration, then churches, and why church margins stayed thin Selling, then buying: walking into a team and a book you didn't build Getting specialists off the phones and installing marketing coaches Pods, 800 shops, and making a large agency feel small How to pick a niche by who you like serving, not a list The bottleneck that is almost never a secret sauce Timestamps: [00:00] - Agency Advantage intro [00:28] - Meet Jono Long, CEO of Leads Near Me  [02:07] - Twenty years as a Metro Atlanta youth pastor  [03:08] - The $300 Facebook side hustle that paid the mortgage  [05:12] - Last night in youth ministry, then COVID  [06:36] - Why he didn't lose a single client  [08:31] - Restoration, then churches  [15:50] - Selling the agency, then buying one  [18:24] - Walking into a team you didn't hire  [22:19] - Flat org chart, understaffed fulfillment, culture fear  [23:42] - Specialists off the phones, marketing coaches, pods  [26:51] - What he fixed first (and what he left as a premium)  [30:15] - How to pick a niche: like the people, not the list  [35:19] - Where Jono is the bottleneck (there is no secret sauce) CONNECT WITH BRAD: Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/BradStarnesOfficial/ Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/bradstarnesofficial/ LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradstarnesofficial/ CONNECT WITH JONO: Leads Near Me → https://leadsnearme.com LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonolong CONTACT: TalentFuze → https://talentfuze.io Book a call → http://bradstarnes.fyi/talentfuze/ #AgencyAdvantage #JonoLong #LeadsNearMe #AgencyAcquisition #AutoRepairMarketing #AgencyGrowth #NicheMarketing #MarketingAgency #AgencyOwner #Delegation Are you an agency owner that is looking to scale through global talent? Connect with us at talentfuze.io or join our free Facebook group, The Agency Advantage: https://www.facebook.com/groups/youragencyadvantage/ Are you an agency owner that is looking to scale through global talent? Connect with us at talentfuze.io or join our free Facebook group, The Agency Advantage: https://www.facebook.com/groups/youragencyadvantage/

  5. Sep 10

    From HVAC Accountant to $9M Agency Founder | Josh Crouch

    Send us Fan Mail Josh Crouch built Relentless Digital by going deep before going wide. After eight years inside home-service companies, he launched with one focused offer for HVAC contractors and grew into a premium agency that he says has reached $750K in monthly recurring revenue. In this Agency Advantage conversation, Josh and Brad Starnes break down niche selection, premium pricing, database reactivation, speed-to-lead, organic community marketing, and the systems required to scale without making the founder the bottleneck. You’ll learn how to: • Turn industry experience into a positioning advantage • Start with one service and expand without losing focus • Connect marketing performance to sales and operations • Recover opportunities already sitting in a client’s CRM • Use Facebook groups to build trust before prospects need you • Buy back your time by hiring people who can own the work CONNECT WITH JOSH Josh Crouch: https://joshcrouch.com/ Relentless Digital: https://www.relentless-digital.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-crouch/ Service Business Mastery: https://servicebusinessmastery.com/ RESOURCE MENTIONED Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell: https://www.buybackyourtime.com/ CHAPTERS 00:00 Meet Josh Crouch of Relentless Digital 01:27 What three years on the Inc. 5000 really takes 03:25 Fast growth creates fast problems 06:35 Why niche expertise builds trust 08:43 From HVAC accountant to operator 15:29 The marketing lessons that started the agency 18:21 Start with one service and get great at it 19:47 Reaching a $750K monthly run rate 21:59 Premium pricing and premium delivery 26:25 Where marketing and operations meet 31:04 Database reactivation that produced $300K 34:20 Speed-to-lead and follow-up systems 37:23 How Facebook groups drive organic growth 44:11 Buy back your time Share this episode with an agency owner who is trying to do everything alone, and subscribe for more behind-the-scenes conversations about building an agency from the ground up. #AgencyAdvantage #AgencyGrowth #DigitalMarketing Are you an agency owner that is looking to scale through global talent? Connect with us at talentfuze.io or join our free Facebook group, The Agency Advantage: https://www.facebook.com/groups/youragencyadvantage/

  6. Sep 3

    From a $14K Ceiling to $1.6M: The Power of Niching Down | Will Hanke

    Send us Fan Mail What happens when an agency owner stops serving everyone and becomes the obvious choice for one overlooked niche? In this episode of the Agency Advantage Podcast, Brad Starnes sits down with Will Hanke, founder of Window Treatment Marketing Pros, to unpack how Will broke through a self-imposed $14K MRR ceiling, committed to an underserved niche, and built a $1.6 million agency with a global team. Will explains why he rebranded around window-treatment dealers, spent years building omnipresence before scaling paid ads, and considers waiting too long to hire an appointment setter one of his biggest misses. He also shares how LeadBoomerang became both a client-retention tool and a sales advantage—and why trying to sell it as standalone SaaS failed twice. In this conversation, Brad and Will discuss: Breaking through self-sabotage and limiting beliefsFinding a “blue ocean” niche from an existing client rosterRebranding a niche agency in daysGrowing with your business instead of outrunning operationsBuilding omnipresence before investing heavily in adsWhy cold calling was Will’s biggest missed opportunityTurning lead follow-up software into a competitive advantageBuilding and retaining a global teamUsing EOS and core values to create remote cultureRespecting a winning formula without worshipping it in the AI eraTimestamps: 00:00 – Agency Advantage intro 00:29 – Meet Will Hanke 03:43 – The self-sabotage ceiling at $14K MRR 07:39 – Finding an overlooked niche 08:55 – Rebranding around window-treatment marketing 11:59 – Grow with your business 12:30 – Building omnipresence before paid ads 17:16 – The cold-calling opportunity Will missed 19:02 – LeadBoomerang as a sales and retention tool 22:01 – Will’s first offshore hires 26:16 – EOS, core values, and remote-team culture 30:08 – Mindset and nearly 400% MRR growth 33:31 – Respect the winning formula, but never worship it 34:46 – Will’s advice for growing agency owners CONNECT WITH BRAD: Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/BradStarnesOfficial/ Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/bradstarnesofficial/ LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradstarnesofficial/ CONNECT WITH WILL: Window Treatment Marketing Pros → https://wtmarketingpros.com Website → https://www.willhanke.com LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/techlh CONTACT: TalentFuze → https://talentfuze.io Book a call → http://bradstarnes.fyi/talentfuze/ #AgencyAdvantage #WillHanke #WindowTreatmentMarketingPros #AgencyGrowth #NicheMarketing #MarketingAgency #RemoteTeam #AgencyOwner #EOS #LeadGeneration Are you an agency owner that is looking to scale through global talent? Connect with us at talentfuze.io or join our free Facebook group, The Agency Advantage: https://www.facebook.com/groups/youragencyadvantage/

  7. Aug 27

    He Didn't Pick His Niche. His Niche Picked Him. | Nick Hoard

    Send us Fan Mail What happens when COVID wipes out every client except one? In this episode of the Agency Advantage Podcast, Brad Starnes sits down with Nick Hoard to discuss his journey from radio to founding Nick the Marketer at his kitchen table in Birmingham, Alabama, and building Patient Care Marketing Pros into an agency serving over 250 urgent care clinics with a global team. Nick shares how a mid-notice radio format flip forced him into entrepreneurship, how the pandemic gutted his client roster two years in, and how the one client who stayed, a multi-location urgent care, handed him the niche that changed everything. He also gets candid about burning thousands on Facebook ads that flopped, spending years building credibility across podcasts, YouTube, and live events, then turning ads back on to wildly different results. In this conversation, Brad and Nick discuss: Going from radio to a kitchen-table agency doing free work for testimonialsHow the urgent care niche selected Nick instead of the other way aroundCutting campaign launches from 90+ days to under 10 by niching down"Manufacturing fame" and why ads only work after omnipresenceThe AI dependency lesson: just like an employee can quit, so can an AICore values as a retention model for a global teamLetting go of the office and leading a fully remote cultureNick also explains why culture is what happens when the leader leaves the room, and why applied knowledge, not knowledge, is the real power. Timestamps: [00:00] - The agency that runs without the founder [01:02] - Meet Nick Hoard and the kitchen table origin story [03:17] - Starting with Facebook ads right as the game changed [07:22] - COVID, churn, and the one client who stayed [09:56] - The free workshop that changed the trajectory [11:48] - When your AI tools burn to the ground [14:53] - Nick the Marketer becomes a hub (and Postcards with Preston) [19:23] - Manufacturing fame: it's not who you know, it's who knows you [22:32] - Why his ads failed before omnipresence and won after [26:09] - The first culture break: hiring without knowing what for [32:24] - Core values as a retention model [36:01] - Going global and rethinking loyalty [40:44] - Trust, guardrails, and leading remote [41:23] - Wrap up 🔗 CONNECT WITH BRAD: Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/BradStarnesOfficial/ Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/bradstarnesofficial/ LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradstarnesofficial/ 🔗 CONNECT WITH NICK: Website → https://nickthemarketer.com Patient Care Marketing Pros → https://patientcaremarketingpros.com/ LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-hoard-6454838/ ✉️ CONTACT:  Website → https://talentfuze.io Book a call → http://bradstarnes.fyi/talentfuze/ About me:  I'm Brad Starnes, founder and CEO of TalentFuze, where we help marketing agency owners build real delegation systems by placing vetted offshore specialists into their businesses. Before TalentFuze, I built and sold my own marketing agency, so I've lived the exact bottlenecks most agency owners are stuck in: too much on the owner's plate and not enough leverage. On Agency Advantage, I have honest conversations with agency owners and operators about what it actually takes to grow: the systems, the hires, the hard lessons, and the advantages nobody posts about on LinkedIn. #AgencyAdvantage #NickHoard #PatientCareMarketingPros #NickTheMarketer #UrgentCareMarketing #MarketingAgency #AgencyGrowth #AgencyOwner #NicheDown #AgencyCulture #RemoteTeam #BusinessGrowth Are you an agency owner that is looking to scale through global talent? Connect with us at talentfuze.io or join our free Facebook group, The Agency Advantage: https://www.facebook.com/groups/youragencyadvantage/

  8. Aug 20

    Build a Team or Borrow One? A White Label Founder Tells the Truth | Austin Benoit

    Send us Fan Mail Should your agency build its own delivery team or borrow someone else's? In this episode of the Agency Advantage Podcast, Brad Starnes sits down with Austin Benoit to discuss his journey from a corporate mechanical engineering career to founding Search Prestige, a white label agency that now powers SEO, Google Ads, and Meta Ads delivery for over 100 agencies across the US. Austin shares how he taught himself SEO during COVID, moonlighted on Upwork for a year while still working as an engineer, and went full-time in the middle of the pandemic. He also gets honest about the hiring mistakes that skewed his standards, why he restructured his team around true A players, and where white label actually fits in an agency's life cycle. Brad and Austin run competing models on paper, TalentFuze building in-house teams with vetted offshore specialists and Search Prestige renting out its own, so this conversation puts both paths on the table. In this conversation, Brad and Austin discuss: Leaving a corporate engineering track to go full-time in SEOHow systems thinking from engineering translates to running an agencyRealizing your B players were never A playersWhere white label fits in an agency's life cycle, and when to graduate from itWhat separates agency partners who scale from the ones that stallTracking AI visibility in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI OverviewsThe one hire that lets an agency owner actually step awayAustin also explains why account management is the most slept-on seat in an agency, and why great communication retains clients longer than great results ever will. Timestamps: [00:00] - Build your own delivery team or borrow one? [01:32] - Meet Austin Benoit and Search Prestige [05:56] - Walking away from engineering during COVID [10:09] - What systems thinking gives you as an agency owner [12:35] - The A player wake-up call [15:49] - Where white label fits in an agency's life cycle [20:17] - Why some agency partners scale and others stall [24:44] - AI SEO, GEO, and what the tracking data actually tells you [29:59] - The self-attributed reporting tip most agencies skip [32:25] - The one hire that lets you step away from your agency [37:08] - Know your LTV before you choose a white label partner [38:43] - Connect with Austin Benoit 🔗 CONNECT WITH BRAD: Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/BradStarnesOfficial/ Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/bradstarnesofficial/ LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradstarnesofficial/ 🔗 CONNECT WITH AUSTIN: Website → https://searchprestige.com LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/austin-benoit-seo/ ✉️ CONTACT:  Website → https://talentfuze.io Book a call → http://bradstarnes.fyi/talentfuze/ About me:  I'm Brad Starnes, founder and CEO of TalentFuze, where we help marketing agency owners build real delegation systems by placing vetted offshore specialists into their businesses. Before TalentFuze, I built and sold my own marketing agency, so I've lived the exact bottlenecks most agency owners are stuck in: too much on the owner's plate and not enough leverage. On Agency Advantage, I have honest conversations with agency owners and operators about what it actually takes to grow: the systems, the hires, the hard lessons, and the advantages nobody posts about on LinkedIn. #AgencyAdvantage #AustinBenoit #SearchPrestige #WhiteLabelAgency #MarketingAgency #AgencyGrowth #AgencyOwner #SEO #GEO #AIVisibility #Delegation #BusinessGrowth Are you an agency owner that is looking to scale through global talent? Connect with us at talentfuze.io or join our free Facebook group, The Agency Advantage: https://www.facebook.com/groups/youragencyadvantage/

  9. Jul 9

    The Loom Close: How Frankie Fihn Sells Agency Clients Without Calls

    Send us Fan Mail What if you closed agency clients without ever getting on a sales call? In this episode of the Agency Advantage Podcast, Brad Starnes sits down with Frankie Fihn to discuss how he runs a $150K to $300K per month agency with a team of two to five people and signs clients with a single five-minute video instead of a call, a discovery meeting, or a proposal. Frankie is ten-plus years in, and the road there was not clean: 20 months without making a dime, sleeping on his girlfriend’s couch, and burning his first agency to the ground after a decade of burnout before rebuilding it smarter. What changed was the model. He went from 200 booked calls a month down to six and closed more business, because busy buyers do not want to sit through a pitch three weeks out. They want to know what it is, what it costs, and how to buy it. He has had clients sign up at 1 a.m. from bed. In this conversation, Brad and Frankie discuss: Why scaling rapidly broke his first agency, and what doing less but better fixedThe three parts of a video pitch that actually closesThe two places almost everyone blows it: the open, and the “here’s exactly how to pay me” closeHow he dropped from 200 booked calls a month to six and grew revenueWhy pre-selling does more work than the pitch itselfRunning a $150K to $300K per month operation with a team of two to fiveWhat masterminds gave him that no course ever didIf you are drowning in sales calls and sick of trading hours for offers that go unread, start here. Timestamps: [00:00] - What if you never took another sales call? [01:58] - From the factory floor to running an agency [05:46] - The early grind of an SEO agency [09:39] - What masterminds actually gave him [13:03] - The video pitch model, explained [13:32] - Walking away from the traditional sales call [19:43] - The real challenge in agency sales [21:48] - Using video to sell instead of meetings [23:44] - The workflow behind a video sale [25:20] - Visual storytelling that does the convincing [27:35] - Why pre-selling carries the whole close [31:11] - How to craft a video pitch that converts [33:01] - The mistakes almost everyone makes on video [39:43] - Closing the deal without ever getting on a call 🔗 CONNECT WITH BRAD: Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/BradStarnesOfficial/ Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/bradstarnesofficial/ LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradstarnesofficial/ 🔗 CONNECT WITH FRANKIE: Website → https://www.beyondagencyprofits.com/ YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@beyondagencyprofits Book → https://beyondtheagencybox.com/ LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankfihn/ ✉️ CONTACT: Website → https://www.talentfuze.io/ Book a call → https://bradstarnes.fyi/talentfuze/ About me: I’m Brad Starnes, founder and CEO of TalentFuze, where we help marketing agency owners build real delegation systems by placing vetted offshore specialists into their businesses. Before TalentFuze, I built and sold my own marketing agency, so I’ve lived the exact bottlenecks most agency owners are stuck in: too much on the owner’s plate and not enough leverage. On Agency Advantage, I have honest conversations with agency owners and operators about what it actually takes to grow: the systems, the hires, the hard lessons, and the advantages nobody posts about on LinkedIn. #AgencyAdvantage #FrankieFihn #BeyondAgencyProfits #LoomClose #AsyncSales #VideoSales #SellWithoutCalls #MarketingAgency #AgencyGrowth #AgencyOwner #ClientAcquisition #BusinessGrowth Are you an agency owner that is looking to scale through global talent? Connect with us at talentfuze.io or join our free Facebook group, The Agency Advantage: https://www.facebook.com/groups/youragencyadvantage/

  10. Jun 18

    Kicked Out On Purpose: From $50M Sprint Territory to a Seven-Figure Agency Exit

    Send us Fan Mail Should you build an agency to run, or build one to sell? In this episode of the Agency Advantage Podcast, Brad Starnes sits down with Matt Coffy to discuss walking out on a $50 million corporate territory at Sprint, accidentally building a medical marketing agency out of a website he made to show off his own chops, and scaling it to 30+ people and $250K a month before kicking himself out of it on purpose. Matt started consulting in 2010 with no real plan. His dentist became his first recurring client while he was in the chair getting a tooth filled. That accident became Customer Bloom, then Practice Bloom, then a multiple seven-figure exit. He started planning that exit two years early by trading marketing work for broker advice, deliberately made himself removable from day-to-day operations, and still nearly sank the business at its peak by signing 30 clients a month with no way to keep them. He is running the same playbook a third time now as ProfitEngines, and he is blunt about who he will let near it. In this conversation, Brad and Matt discuss: Why he repeats the same agency pattern on purpose instead of chasing something newThe two-year head start every owner needs before trying to sellWhy churn, not new business, decides what your agency is actually worthThe high transaction value, high velocity filter that decides which niche to chaseHow industry knowledge buys trust that marketing credentials never willWhat performing on stage taught him about business that an MBA never couldThe boat rule he uses to vet every client, employee, and vendor before they get on boardMatt is also honest about the part nobody posts about: the day you sell the thing you built is the hardest day, not the finish line. If you have ever wanted to build something you could actually walk away from, this one is for you. Timestamps: [00:00] - Build an agency to run, or build one to sell? [01:47] - From a $50M Sprint territory to walking out [06:46] - How ProfitEngines became version three of the same business [08:31] - Niche or generalist: which one actually pays [11:06] - Why the medical niche worked [13:01] - Buying trust with industry knowledge instead of credentials [15:43] - Partnering with clients past the marketing metrics [17:27] - When the marketing actually changes someone’s life [19:07] - What performing on stage taught him about business [21:55] - Navigating the sale and the exit [27:02] - The hardest lessons from selling an agency [32:29] - Preparing to sell two years before you sell [35:12] - The boat rule for choosing the right people 🔗 CONNECT WITH BRAD: Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/BradStarnesOfficial/ Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/bradstarnesofficial/ LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradstarnesofficial/ 🔗 CONNECT WITH MATT: Website → https://profitengines.com/ LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattcoffy/ ✉️ CONTACT: Website → https://www.talentfuze.io/ Book a call → https://bradstarnes.fyi/talentfuze/ About me: I’m Brad Starnes, founder and CEO of TalentFuze, where we help marketing agency owners build real delegation systems by placing vetted offshore specialists into their businesses. Before TalentFuze, I built and sold my own marketing agency, so I’ve lived the exact bottlenecks most agency owners are stuck in: too much on the owner’s plate and not enough leverage. On Agency Advantage, I have honest conversations with agency owners and operators about what it actually takes to grow: the systems, the hires, the hard lessons, and the advantages nobody posts about on LinkedIn. #AgencyAdvantage #MattCoffy #ProfitEngines #AgencyExit #SellYourAgency #MarketingAgency #AgencyGrowth #AgencyOwner #ClientRetention #MedicalMarketing #BusinessGrowth Are you an agency owner that is looking to scale through global talent? Connect with us at talentfuze.io or join our free Facebook group, The Agency Advantage: https://www.facebook.com/groups/youragencyadvantage/

  11. Jun 11

    Too Stupid to Quit: From College Dropout to $300K/Month Law Firm Marketing Agency

    Send us Fan Mail Cyle Patnode started the same business three times before it finally worked. He dropped out of college at 21, got left holding the bag when his marketing franchise went bankrupt, and ended up broke at 23. He was waiting tables and valeting cars in a new city. Then the Pennsylvania AG came after him over a lead-gen play gone wrong. Then COVID wiped out every client he had except one. That one client was a personal injury attorney. It's the entire reason Case Engine exists today; a law firm marketing agency doing around $300K a month with a team of 30+. In the first episode back since the relaunch, Brad walks Cyle through the full "f****d" era and how he clawed his way to "unfucked": why he resisted niching down for years (and what it cost him), the one ad that signed a $5K/month client in week one, and why he's betting the agency's future on AI search; getting law firms cited inside ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini before the rest of the industry catches up. In this episode: Why building the same agency three times beat starting something newThe real cost of waiting too long to niche downHow a single case study turned one surviving client into a growth engineThe first three moves any firm should make to get cited by AI searchWhy top talent (not automation) is still the bottleneck to real growthIf you've ever launched something that blew up in your face and wondered whether to go again, this one's for you. Are you an agency owner that is looking to scale through global talent? Connect with us at talentfuze.io or join our free Facebook group, The Agency Advantage: https://www.facebook.com/groups/youragencyadvantage/

  12. Jun 3

    Your Agency Is Holding You Hostage

    Send us Fan Mail Your agency looks like it's working. You've got the revenue, the clients, the thing everyone else calls success. And you haven't taken a real day off in months, because the whole operation still runs on your hands and only your hands. The UnF*cked Agency is the show for that... the conversation that usually only happens after the conference, at the bar, when the guard finally comes down. The churn that's scaring you. The cash that's tighter than it looks. The fact that you built a business that owns you instead of the other way around. Host Brad Starnes has been there... he built an agency that looked like a dream while it was on fire inside, and sold it under distress before rebuilding around the lesson he paid for the hard way. No guru theater, no ten-step frameworks you'll never use. Just honest talk and real operators, working through one idea every episode: how to get your agency unfcked. Not perfect. Not optimized. Just not broken, not trapped, and not bleeding. If you're past survival, doing real revenue, and more exhausted than you've ever been — start here. New episodes break down the real mechanics of building an agency that doesn't eat your life. Follow the show so the next one finds you. Are you an agency owner that is looking to scale through global talent? Connect with us at talentfuze.io or join our free Facebook group, The Agency Advantage: https://www.facebook.com/groups/youragencyadvantage/

  • 12 Episodes

About

Most agency owners don't have a marketing problem. They have a delegation problem. You started your agency for freedom, and somewhere along the way you became the bottleneck. Every deliverable runs through you. Every fire gets put out by you. Growth just means more work. The UnF*cked Agency is the show for agency owners ready to fix that. Every week, host Brad Starnes sits down with the operators, founders, and specialists who've cracked it: people who built teams that actually deliver without the owner buried in the work. We get into the real stuff like delegation, hiring, systems, retention, and the boring infrastructure that quietly scales an agency. It's honest, occasionally uncomfortable, and built for owners who want an agency that runs without them.

Information

  • Creator
    Brad Starnes
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    12
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Agency Advantage
  • Show Website
    Agency Advantage