Founder, CMO @ AMZ Prep | Fulfillment for Global Merchants | Follow me to watch us build a 100M Company

At AMZ Prep, our daily mission is to work towards our bold vision: To propel sellers and brands to amplify their global eCommerce footprint through the seamless integration of logistics, fulfillment, advertising, strategy, creativity, and growth within a single, unified solution. 

Our vision may seem audacious to some, but at AMZ Prep, we thrive on embracing challenges, particularly the ambitious and audacious ones. It's this unwavering spirit that has catapulted us into becoming a retail powerhouse that's been quietly making waves.

If you're seeking to be part of a team that's committed to achieving remarkable accomplishments, we invite you to join us on our journey. We're constantly on the lookout for exceptional individuals to become a vital part of our team. Whether your expertise lies in Operations, Finance, Customer Experience, Business Development, or Software Engineering, please don't hesitate to connect with us for any career-related inquiries.

Blair Forrest

I'm 28.

Started AMZ Prep® from my basement at 21. Made every mistake you can imagine along the way.

Here are 9 lessons I wish I knew back then:

(For context, we are blitz-scaling to be a 9 figure business next ~30 months Im in full founder mode within the company). 

And yes, this photo was before the world of logistics aged me like fine wine.

1. Saying yes to everyone will break you.
Early on, we took any client with a pulse. It nearly killed us. A defined ICP makes everything easier. Sales, ops, support. We ended up firing customers we never should have taken.

2. Hiring before you feel ready is the move.
I waited too long because I was cheap and thought no one could do it better. That stubbornness led to burnout. The right people are not an expense. They are the best investment you can make.

3. Bad revenue is more expensive than no revenue.
Saying no to money that does not fit feels reckless at first. But chasing the wrong deals costs you time, focus, and the clients you actually want.

4. FOMO will cost you more than patience.
I wasted $500K on a sales team because competitors were ramping outbound. The ROI was not there. Content and referrals worked better. Stop reacting to what others are doing.

5. Owning 100% is worth the middle seat.
VCs wanted in. I said no. Now I fly economy while competitors fly private. But every dollar of growth is mine. That discomfort is temporary. Giving away your company is forever.

6. Rest is a growth strategy.
I used to grind 7 days a week and thought I was winning. I was not. Taking Sundays off made me sharper on Monday. Exhausted founders make expensive mistakes.

7. Admitting what you do not know builds trust faster than pretending.
I lost clients early on because I faked expertise. The ones who came back did so because I started saying "I don't know, but I'll figure it out."

8. Your team is everything.
A players hire A players. B players hire C players. The minute you compromise on talent is the minute you start failing.

9. Show up in person.
A $400 economy flight turned into a $2.4M contract. Emails do not close deals like handshakes do. Get on planes. 

Most of these I learned the hard way. Hopefully you do not have to.

What lesson hit you hardest in your twenties?

Blair Forrest 

I need to hire 100+ people in 2026.

Not because we're chasing growth for growth's sake. Because the demand for AMZ Prep® is insane right now.

We're watching two massive shifts collide:

1. Ecommerce is exploding faster than brands can operationally keep up.

Order volumes are up. SKU counts are up. Customer expectations are up. But most brands still run ops like it's 2019. Small teams. Manual processes. Systems held together with duct tape and spreadsheets.

They can't scale fast enough to match their own growth.

2. Companies are finally ditching in-house ops for outsourced fulfillment.

For years, brands held onto their warehouses like it was a competitive advantage. Now they're realizing it's a liability. The math doesn't work. The headaches don't stop. And every hour spent on logistics is an hour not spent on product, marketing, or customers.

So they're handing it off.

These two trends are feeding each other. More brands need help. Fewer want to build it themselves.

That's why we're hiring. Warehouse staff. Ops managers. Account leads. People who want to build something real in a space most people overlook.

If you're looking for work or know someone who is, DM me or drop a comment.

We're just getting started.

We are hiring a senior copy writer who has built newsletters in the past. 

DM me if you know someone!

Most brands default to UPS or FedEx without thinking twice.

We had a client shipping heavy goods to the Midwest. Their national carrier rates were eating into margins. Every shipment felt like a slow bleed.

We ran the numbers on a regional carrier for that specific zone.

20-30% cheaper. Same delivery windows. Sometimes faster.

The difference wasn't service quality. It was geography.

National carriers price for nationwide coverage. You're paying for infrastructure you don't use. Regional carriers specialize in specific lanes. Their trucks are already running those routes.

Where this works:

- Zone 2-4 shipments where regionals dominate
- Heavy or oversized freight where national surcharges stack up
- Consistent volume to specific regions

Where it doesn't:

- Scattered, low-volume shipments across the country
- Time-sensitive orders where tracking integration matters
- Brands without the ops bandwidth to manage multiple carriers

The brands saving the most aren't loyal to one carrier. They're running a blended network. National for reach. Regional for margin.

If you're shipping 500+ orders a month to concentrated zones and haven't tested a regional carrier, you're probably leaving money on the table.

What's your current carrier mix look like?

2 years with Arishekar N on the team. 

When he joined, we were figuring out how to tell our story. Now we have a brand people actually recognize.

He's built our marketing from the ground up and our entire India operations. The content, the campaigns, the positioning. All of it runs through him. And he does it without needing constant direction. He sees what needs to happen and makes it happen.

That's rare.

The best people don't just execute. They take ownership. Ari treats our marketing like it's his own company. That mindset is why we've grown the way we have.

Two years in and he's just getting started.

Grateful to have him.

And no, you can't recruit him.

Congrats Ari! We’re lucky to have you growing the business.

Uncomfortable reality:

The cheapest 3PL is usually the most expensive.

Most brands shop for fulfillment partners by comparing rate cards. Pallet-in, pallet-out. Pick and pack fees. Storage costs.

They pick the lowest number and call it a win.

Then the invoices start coming.

Here is what you can do about it:

1. Ask about chargebacks.
Who owns accountability when a retailer issues one? A mislabeled case or missed appointment can cost $100K. If they dodge this question, that is your answer.

2. Get real on-time fulfillment numbers.
Not the number on their sales deck. Ask for merchant references. Call them. One missed delivery window can damage a retail relationship that took years to build.

3. Check their integration capabilities.
SPS Commerce. EDI. Your ERP. If they fumble this answer, expect manual work and errors. Clean integrations prevent chargebacks.

4. Ask where their clients have been burned.
The best partners will tell you honestly. The wrong ones will pretend it never happens.

5. Look at retailer compliance.
Every retailer has different requirements. If they cannot walk you through how they handle Target vs. Walmart vs. Costco, that is a red flag.

The rate card is the last thing you should compare.

Execution gaps and hidden fees will eat the savings you thought you were getting.

What is the biggest surprise you have found on a 3PL invoice?

Tough news out of Quiet Logistics today going under

If you were impacted by this, we are hiring 20+ roles at AMZ Prep®

Any time a logistics business restructures, it is the operators, account managers, warehouse teams, and support staff who feel it first 

If you were impacted or know someone who was, we are actively hiring across sales, client experience, and operations right now and I want to help 

Dozens of roles. Real work. Fast moving teams (and BIG impact)

Logistics talent is hard to find and even harder to replace. 

If you care about execution, ownership, and building something meaningful, there is a seat at the table

DM me or comment and I will connect you with the right person 

$5000 bonus if we hire someone you introduce 

Like and share this post for reach and find someone find their next home

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Making logistics sexy for modern brands

Amazon Seller Central has free tools most sellers never touch.

I talk to brands every week who pay thousands for data they could pull themselves.

Here's what's sitting in your account right now:

Brand Analytics
Search frequency rank, top clicked ASINs, conversion share. This tells you exactly what customers search for and who's winning those clicks. Most brands never open it.

Search Query Performance
Shows your impressions, clicks, and purchases for every search term. You can see where you're losing customers in the funnel. Free if you're brand registered.

Inventory Performance Index
Amazon scores your inventory health. If you're not tracking this, you're probably paying excess storage fees without knowing why.

Voice of the Customer
Aggregates negative feedback and return reasons. Instead of guessing why products come back, the data is right there.

Manage Your Experiments
A/B test your titles, images, and bullet points. Amazon will tell you which version converts better. Most sellers just guess and hope.

The brands that win on Amazon aren't guessing. They're using the data Amazon already gives them.

If you're paying for third-party tools before maxing out Seller Central, you're leaving money on the table.

What's the most underrated Seller Central feature you actually use?

Every founder has a breaking point.

I hit mine about a year into building the company.

I was doing sales, ops, customer support, warehouse visits, and still answering emails at midnight. I told myself it was temporary. That I just needed to push through.

The work kept expanding.
I kept shrinking.

I stopped being sharp in meetings.
Started making small mistakes that cost us time.
What I was building began to feel like something I was surviving.

So I made two changes.

First, I hired.
Not when it felt comfortable.
Before that.

I brought in someone to own operations so I could stop being the bottleneck on every decision. It felt risky. It was necessary.

Second, I changed how I worked.

I stopped measuring effort by hours and started measuring it by output.
Fewer late nights.
More focused mornings.

I built structure around the chaos instead of reacting to it.

The company didn’t slow down.
It sped up.

A founder running on empty isn’t a competitive advantage.
It’s a liability.

The breaking point isn’t failure.
It’s a signal.

The founders who scale are the ones who listen to it and adjust.

Shipping from the wrong warehouse kills margins.

Most sellers think fulfillment is about speed. It's not. It's about placement.

If your inventory is sitting in one location and you're shipping coast to coast, you're paying for zones you don't need to touch. Every extra zone adds cost. Every unnecessary mile eats into margin.

The fix is simple but most brands skip it.

Position inventory closer to where your customers actually are. Use multiple locations if volume justifies it. Cut the distance, cut the cost.

For Seller Fulfilled Prime, this matters even more.

Amazon measures delivery impressions. If customers don't see fast delivery promises on your listing, you fail the trial before shipping a single order. Strategic placement is how you hit those thresholds without paying for overnight labels on every package.

And if you need Saturday delivery for SFP compliance, that's another reason to think about where inventory lives. Not every warehouse offers weekend coverage.

What smart placement actually delivers:
• Lower transportation costs per order
• Faster delivery without premium shipping
• Margins that don't shrink with every sale

This isn't complicated. But it requires looking at your fulfillment network as a strategy, not just a checkbox.

Where are your highest-volume SKUs sitting right now?

One of our client: A major chocolate brand got hit with cross-border tariffs, and within days they were scrambling to keep orders moving.

They flew down to our cold-chain facility because they didn’t have time for long planning cycles or perfect onboarding.

We set up operations within 24 hours, started fulfilling immediately, and within forty-eight hours were shipping thousands of orders a week, knowing it wouldn’t be clean but deciding speed mattered more in that moment.

You can’t polish stuff in a emergency.

Onboarding that fast is never ideal, there are always gaps, questions, and things you fix on the fly. 

But showing up like an extension of their team was the only option to stop the fire.

Most trust I’ve seen is earned when things break and you still deliver.

Everyone thinks going viral is the ultimate LinkedIn win.

I think that’s wrong.

I’ve had posts break 100K impressions. It felt great for about a day.

Then I looked at who was engaging:
Random accounts.
People outside my industry.
Followers who would never buy, refer, or collaborate.

Vanity metrics.
Zero business impact.

Here’s what experience taught me:

- Virality attracts the wrong audience
The algorithm rewards engagement, not relevance.
Posts that “blow up” usually resonate with everyone except the people who matter to your business.

- Niche authority beats mass reach
The creator with 5,000 followers in a tight niche will out-earn the one with 50,000 random followers every time.
Depth beats width.

- 100 decision-makers > 100,000 likes
One comment from the right person is worth more than thousands of reactions from people who won’t remember your name tomorrow.

The goal isn’t to be seen by everyone.
It’s to be known by the right people.

I’d rather get 50 likes from founders, operators, and buyers in my space
than 5,000 likes from people who will never convert.

Reach is easy to measure.
Relevance isn’t.

Chase relevance.
Authority compounds.

I used to struggle with imposter syndrome.

Every win felt like luck.
Every conversation felt like a test I might fail.
I used to feel like I didn’t belong in every room I entered.

Here’s what actually helped:

1. It never fully goes away.
I stopped waiting to feel ready. The feeling doesn’t disappear at milestones. It just shows up again in bigger rooms. Accepting that made it easier to move anyway.

2. Action builds confidence, not the other way around.
I thought I needed confidence before acting. I was wrong.
Confidence came from repetition. From speaking up before I felt qualified. From doing the work while unsure.

3. Most people are operating in uncertainty too.
The people who look composed haven’t figured it out.
They’ve just learned to function without certainty.
That stopped me comparing my insides to everyone else’s outsides.

Most people think imposter syndrome fades when you achieve more.

It doesn’t.

You just stop letting it decide what you do.

Feeling like you don’t belong is often the signal you’re exactly where you should be.

I didn’t get confident on camera.
I got reps.

My first videos were painful.
Stiff delivery.
Awkward pauses.
Watching them back made me cringe.

I posted anyway.

Not because I felt ready.
Because I knew the only way out was through.

Here’s the actual formula:
• Post while it feels awkward
• Share before it’s polished
• Let the cringe phase burn off

Most people wait until they feel confident.
That’s the trap.

Confidence doesn’t come from preparation.
It comes from exposure.

I’ve watched founders with great ideas stay invisible for years,
waiting for the “right time” to start posting.

Meanwhile, the ones winning on camera aren’t more talented.
They just started earlier.
And kept going.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth:
Your first 50 posts will be bad.
Maybe your first 100.

That’s not failure.
That’s the price of entry.

Every creator you admire has a graveyard of content they hope no one scrolls far enough to find.

The difference?
They didn’t stop.

Confidence isn’t talent.
It’s surviving your early posts.

If it feels too early,
too rough,
too uncomfortable,
that’s usually your cue to hit publish.

Every day your inventory sits in transit is a day you are not selling.

Most brands treat Amazon inbound as an ops task.
Something the warehouse handles.
A box to check.

That’s the wrong frame.

Inbound speed is revenue infrastructure.

Here’s what slow inbound actually costs you:

1. Lost sales velocity
Amazon rewards products that sell consistently.
When you stock out or run low, rankings drop.
Competitors take your spot.
Rebuilding momentum costs more than maintaining it.

2. Wasted ad spend
Running PPC while inventory is about to run out means you are paying to send traffic to a listing that cannot convert.
Or worse, to a competitor’s offer.

3. Margin compression
Rush shipments to plug gaps.
Expedited freight because planning slipped.
Premium fees to recover ranking.
All preventable. All expensive.

The brands winning on Amazon are not just optimizing listings.
They are optimizing their inbound pipeline.

That means:
- Forecasting demand before things get tight
- Building buffer time into replenishment cycles
- Treating inbound speed as a KPI, not an afterthought

Your ops team may own the process.
But this is a finance conversation.

Because every day of delay has a dollar value attached to it.

Inbound is not logistics.
It is revenue protection.

If you sell on TikTok Shop in the US, fulfillment is about to change.

Seller-managed shipping will no longer be allowed (urgent)👇 

From March 31, all US local sellers must fulfill orders using TikTok Shop Logistics Services. 

Seller-managed shipping will no longer be allowed. 

Basically, you have to use their shipping labels now and can't use your own. 

and NO you don't need to use TikTok fulfillment services (hearing a lot of love / hate here on brands experience so far). 

Currently, ShipHero is one of the only US-based WMS that meets TikTok Shop’s new label requirements (we use them across a few facilities and only great things to say)

TikTok has confirmed integrations with a few ERP and shipping platforms, but for US warehouse fulfillment, ShipHero is one of the only options available (a few other also listed in image below) 

If you sell on TikTok Shop in the US, be aware of this change. Even if you’re not affected yet, the rollout is quick, and enforcement is coming.

I would not be surprised if we see more marketplaces tighten control over carrier accounts and shipping labels over time.

Curious what you think....

Could you see Amazon or other marketplaces forcing sellers onto marketplace controlled carrier accounts only with their own labels?

Stop apologizing for wanting a big life.

Wanting to build something real. Wanting to make real money. Wanting to have actual impact.

None of that is something to be embarrassed about.

But you will meet people who try to make you feel like it is.

They will call it unrealistic. They will call it selfish. They will suggest you should be happy with less.

What they are really saying is that your ambition makes them uncomfortable. It forces them to confront their own choices.

Small thinkers will always try to guilt you into playing small.

I have seen this pattern over and over. The people who question your goals the loudest are usually the ones who gave up on theirs.

They are not protecting you. They are protecting themselves.

The founders I respect most learned to tune this out early. They stopped asking for permission. They stopped shrinking their vision to make others comfortable.

They built anyway.

That does not mean being reckless or ignoring good advice. It means knowing the difference between wisdom and fear dressed up as concern.

You do not owe anyone a smaller version of what you want.

Ignore them. Build the life you actually want.

What is one thing you stopped apologizing for?

Fulfillment looks simple from the outside.

Product comes in. Product goes out. How hard can it be?

Then you actually run a fulfillment operation and realize there are dozens of moving pieces most brands never see.

The stack behind "ship my stuff":

1. Receiving and intake
Every inbound shipment needs to be checked, counted, and logged. Damaged units get flagged. Discrepancies get documented. One missed pallet throws off inventory for weeks.

2. Storage and slotting
Where you put product matters. Fast movers need to be accessible. Slow movers get pushed back. Bad slotting kills pick efficiency and adds labor cost to every order.

3. Inventory management
Real-time accuracy across multiple channels. Oversell on Amazon and your account health tanks. Oversell on Shopify and you are refunding customers and eating shipping costs.

4. Pick, pack, and ship
This is the part brands think about. But even here, the details matter. Box size selection, dunnage, label placement, carrier routing. Get it wrong and you are paying for air or dealing with damage claims.

5. Amazon inbound
A category of its own. Prep requirements, labeling standards, appointment scheduling, placement fees, check-in speed. Most brands have no idea how much margin they lose here.

6. Returns processing
Product comes back. Now what? Inspect, restock, dispose, or liquidate. Every return is a decision tree that affects margin.

7. Data and reporting
If you cannot see what is happening in real time, you are guessing. Inventory levels, order accuracy, transit times, cost per order. The brands that win are the ones measuring everything.

Each layer has failure points. Each failure point has a cost.

The brands that treat fulfillment as "just shipping" are the ones bleeding margin without knowing where it is going.

What part of your fulfillment stack keeps you up at night?

What if someone offered you $1,000 a day to sit in a room filled with people who hate your product?

Would you do it?

What if they added:

"They'll tell you exactly why they don't buy.
Exactly what's broken.
Exactly what would make them say yes."

Most founders would run. The sharpest founders would grab a pen.

That room exists. It's called talking to the people who didn't convert.

The ones who visited your site and bounced. The ones who got on a sales call and went silent. The ones who tried your product once and never came back.

They're not just "haters." They're the clearest roadmap you're ignoring.

Your happy customers confirm what's working. Your unhappy ones expose what's missing.

Companies often survey their fans. The ones who win seek out their critics.

The feedback that hurts is often the feedback you need.

When's the last time you sat in that room?

11 free websites every founder should use:

1. ChatGPT (chatgpt.com)
Your 24/7 brainstorming partner. Use it for drafting emails, writing copy, solving problems, and thinking through strategy. Saves hours every week.

2. Notion (notion.so)
All-in-one workspace for notes, tasks, docs, and databases. I run my entire content calendar and project tracking here.

3. Loom (loom.com)
Record quick videos instead of scheduling another call. Great for async updates, feedback, and explaining things once instead of ten times.

4. Canva (canva.com)
Design without a designer. Pitch decks, social graphics, presentations. The template library alone is worth it.

5. Google Trends (trends.google.com)
See what people are actually searching for. Useful for validating ideas, timing content, and understanding demand.

6. Grammarly (grammarly.com)
Catches mistakes before your clients do. Works in your browser, email, and docs.

7. Calendly (calendly.com)
Stop the back-and-forth on scheduling. Share a link, let people book. Simple.

8. Zapier (zapier.com)
Connects your apps and automates repetitive tasks. If you are doing the same thing manually every day, Zapier can probably do it for you.

9. Wave (waveapps.com)
Free accounting and invoicing. Good enough for most early-stage businesses. No reason to pay for QuickBooks until you need to.

10. Otter.ai (otter.ai)
Transcribes meetings automatically. Never take notes again. Search your conversations later.

11. Hemingway Editor (hemingwayapp.com)
Makes your writing clearer. Highlights complex sentences and passive voice. Useful for anything client-facing.

Most founders pay for tools they do not need yet.

Start here. Upgrade when you outgrow them.

What free tool do you use every day?

As an agency founder in 2025, there’s a lot you’re missing out on.

And if I had to guess, you’re consistently:

- Working 60+ hour weeks
- Fighting to maintain profitability. 
- Sacrificing personal time to play catch up with work.

I totally understand how overwhelming it can feel to be stuck in a cycle of endless tasks and responsibilities.

I own 5 different businesses myself. 

You also know that if you keep this up, you’re never going to find the time for personal interests, growth, or relaxation.

And while those long hours are taking a toll on your health and personal life…

Your desired profitability will still remain out of reach because of how inefficient your operations are. 

But there’s good news…

I've developed a unique approach that has allowed myself and hundreds of other agency founders to run highly profitably agencies, working less than 5 hours a week. 

And in just 12 weeks, it allows you to be totally removed from operations, while experiencing a 35% bump in profitability at the same time. 

So not only can I help you get your life back…

But I’ll help your agency become more profitable and more efficient at the same time. 

Just for reference, I’ve used this system to:

- Increase EBITDA by 35%+ for my own agency, working only 5 hours/week.
Increase EBITDA by an average of 28.25% for 4 clients over the last 6 months

- Help multiple agency owners go from working 60+ hours per week down to under 5 hours

And there’s a whole lot more where that came from.

That said, I'm dedicated to helping other agency founders break free from the grind and achieve a more balanced, profitable business.

By working with me, you'll learn how to streamline operations, increase efficiency, and boost profitability. 

My agency scaling method will help you regain control of your time and focus on what truly matters. 

If you want to hear more about my system…

DM me ‘AGENCY’ or ‘Nick, I actually read your about section’

Nick Avaria

I scaled my agency to $10M in 3.5 years.

My secret? This 1 dashboard that's currently runs over 50M+ through it. Get it free today:

This is the same dashboard we install inside agencies to give founders visibility into:

- Margin
- Client retention
- Utilization
- Forecasting
- Revenue per employee
- CAC and payback
- MRR movement
- Team load vs. delivery capacity

If you’re an agency owner doing $100K+ per month and you:

1. Aren’t sure which clients are profitable
2. Still make hiring decisions based on gut feel
3. Can’t see real-time MRR or forecasted margin
4. Have a “busy” team but unclear accountability
5. Feel like things are growing but it’s not very stable

Then this dashboard is perfect for you.

It combines every key part of agency operations:

Sales, Delivery, Ops, Finance, Retention, into one live sheet.

Inside, you’ll see:

 - AGI by month
 - Billable hours and effective hourly rate
 - CAC by acquisition type
 - LTV by cohort
 - Revenue per full time employee
 - NPS by pod
 - Retention & upsells
 - Team-wide forecasting logic
 - Capacity red zones before they break margin

I built this because I needed it myself.

And now dozens of agency founders use it to hit their growth targets faster.

To get access -

1. Connect with me
2. Like this post
3. Comment something below

I’ll then DM it over.

Playing whack-a-mole with all the operational challenges at your agency? We can help with our proven 4 step process. We'll work with you to address items like overstaffing, sustaining profit, predicting workloads and more. It's time to grow your agency, not just spin your wheels.

The goal is to help reward people in Agencies for their hard work. Be they agency owners or employees.
The Agency Economics Thesis: 

Drive efficiency through measurement >>> Create more profit >>> Use profit to invest in training >>> Pay people more as the training enables better results >>> Repeat until the company makes top quartile profit and employees make top quartile wages.

The overall system links the following together seamlessly: 
1) Manage the leadership team well
2) Draw out the right data and review it consistently.
3) Put in performance management at all levels to identify top performers and future rockstars that need training then support them as much as possible.
4) Create a system of client value that is a cut above the competition by combining results, experience, and education. 
5) Iterate training and internal systems progressively to drive scale.

Founder

Co-Founder

Helping companies raise capital for ventures that have a positive impact on society. We are looking for investable business models that go beyond just making profit. We partner with strategic investors as well as invest our own capital when financing deals.

We are a diversified holding company currently invested in:
- Technology
- Real Estate
- Professional Services
- Hospitality
- Wedding Industry


Principal

Accountable for strategic alignment and delivery of all aspects of Operations and the full suite of specialized marketing services provided by CREW inclusive of: Digital Marketing, Web Platform Development, Design, Writing, Video, Content, etc..  Responsible for leading the planning and implementation of new business opportunities, mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, strategic alliances, and the launch of new internal services. Other areas include:

• Lead organization-wide change management efforts;
• Developing and implementing Business Development processes;
• Developing and refining the agency’s operational planning and management practices;
• Driving a unified commitment to business/operational excellence and accountability;
• Creating/leading all locations staff planning/forecasting activities and recruitment strategies;
• Developing and overseeing performance management systems/processes organization wide;

Sr. Director Operations & Shared Services

Responsible for overseeing Operations, Finance, and HR internally inclusive of: Developing and refining business processes, operational forecasting , defining and aligning expectations, developing a culture of accountability, and building/developing strong project teams.

Sold to CREW Marketing Partners on September 2014.

Operations Director & Co-Founder

•	Developed sales tools to standardize and shorten customer qualification process by 90%+;
•	Conducted financial reviews and market analysis to produce multiple capital project plans;
•	Analyzed economic and industry data to determine price increase feasibility;

Acted in a Brand Manager role responsible for the analysis and deployment of new products resulting in comprehensive marketing/sales strategies for three new product lines:

•	Reduced cost of business unit start up by 75%;
•	Business unit brought to market months ahead of schedule;
•	Monitored and evaluated market trends, customer needs, and product performance.

Business Analyst

•	Strategic repositioning;
•	Cost benefit analysis; 
•	Sales & Marketing plans;
•	Business Development;
•	E-marketing integration for businesses.

Business Consultant

•	Maintained a wide network of contacts through B2B customer relations;
•	Screened, hired, and trained employees and created a standardized hiring funnel;
•	Self-branded and built a reputation of product quality excellence;
•	Helped define/refine product offering for B2B customers.

Hospitality Consultant

Helping 100 Agencies Get To 1M Annual Profit | $10M ARR in 3 Years | DM me ‘SCALE’

I scaled my agency to $10M/yr in 3.5 years.

Closing lots of deals didn’t get me there

What did was a holistic understanding of my agency’s numbers and data.

Which I used to make high-quality decisions that helped me grow fast.

This KPI sheet makes managing your numbers easier.

Agency founders, COOs, and heads of ops, this is for you if:

 - You have a “busy” team, but not a profitable one
 - Your managers can’t explain what success looks like by role
 - Your dashboard isn’t tied to delivery outcomes
 - Your team’s productive on paper, but growth targets aren’t always hit
 - You’re scaling headcount, but accountability is all over the place

When this stuff isn’t in place, the business starts feeling like effort without return.

Performance becomes subjective.

Promotions get political.

People are “doing the work” but no one knows what that work is producing.

After implementing this KPI framework inside dozens of agencies, here’s what it fixes:

 - Ties every role (sales, delivery, ops, marketing, leadership) to revenue and margin
 - Makes real performance visible, so rewards and raises follow output, not opinion
 - Eliminates dead weight by creating a clear bar for contribution
 - Gives managers clarity on how to lead and measure their team
 - Turns dashboards into operational control panels

Inside the doc you’ll find:

1/ Exact KPI formulas by role
2/ Monthly, quarterly, and yearly reporting cadence
3/ Targets for retention, utilization, client results, on-time delivery, and more
4/ Application guides for corporate marketing, sales, account services, and leadership
5/ How to build dashboards that predict margin, not just display activity

This is the same system we use to coach agencies past $3M, $5M, and $10M+ per year.

Want access?

1. Connect with me
2. Like this post
3. Comment “KPI”

I’ll then send it over in the DMs.

I have acquired & sold 7 agencies.

5 uncommon (but profitable) opinions I have:

1. Sales and marketing should be the last thing you focus on to scale
 - If you're closing 1-3 clients per month, retention will outperform any sales initiative you could run.
- Example of the math: 10% monthly churn = $1.5M agency ceiling. 5% monthly churn = $3M ceiling. 2.5% monthly churn = $6M ceiling. 1.25% monthly churn = $12M ceiling. Same closes per month with wildly different outcomes.
- I worked with an agency closing 10 deals a month at $3K each. Other consultants told them to get more leads. I looked at their 8% monthly churn and said: fix retention to 2% and you 4x the business.

2. Fire people in under 3 months if they're not working out
 - Rockstar (A player): You'll know in 7-14 days.
- Strong performer (B): You'll know in 30 days.
- Solid contributor (C): You'll know in 2 months.
- If you don't know which one they are after 2 months, they're none of those. Use month 3 to find their replacement and let them go before the probation period ends.

3. Smaller and profitable is better than bigger at the same nominal profit
 - I've seen a 25-person agency doing the same topline revenue as a 50-person agency. The 25-person agency: 45%+ EBITDA. The 50-person agency: <10% .
- Everyone at the smaller agency gets paid 20% more on average, and the owner has more control. The business is easier to manage and more attractive to buyers.
- When you have excess capacity, idle people cause problems. Drama and interpersonal conflict. Managers end up firefighting instead of doing strategic work.

4. Employee problems are usually management problems in disguise
 - When an employee under-performs, the first question I ask is: did their manager give them clear objectives and metrics? Do they know what they're accountable for, in rank order? Do they know how to do the work? Almost always, the answer reveals gaps in management.
- The majority of what I fix in agencies is management problems. The dashboards, the systems, the accountability structures - they matter because they're required to hold people accountable. But they only work when managers actually use them.

5. Higher customer acquisition cost usually means more profitable clients
 - Most agency owners have a fictitious cap on what they'll pay to acquire a client. "I need to acquire clients for $2-5K max." I have a client that spends $30-50K to acquire a single client.
- That sounds insane until you see the math: they sell at $12-15K/month, payback period is 4-5 months, clients retain for 36-72 months, business runs at 40%+ profit on $600K+ topline.
 - The more expensive a client is to acquire, the more profitable that client generally is. Premium acquisition costs filter for premium clients who stay longer and pay more.
 - The agencies capping their CAC at $2-5K are competing for the same low-value clients everyone else is fighting over. The ones paying $30K are playing a different game entirely.

I rarely see agency owners price their services like this.

Even though it outperforms every other way:

It’s called the 30/30 rule.

Here’s how to apply it to your pricing (takes 60 secs).

It’s build around two numbers:

1. Close rate

What percentage of proposals do you close?

If you're above 30% - like 40%, 50%, 60% - you're pricing too low. The market is telling you it can support more.

I had an agency owner at $125/hr with a 60%+ close rate. We raised to $150, then $175, then $200. At $200/hr they're still closing above 50%. We probably need to go higher.


2. Delivery cost

Direct cost to deliver (people + tools) as a percentage of revenue.

If it's above 30%, you don't have room to scale.

Here's why:

At full scale, costs break down like this:
-> 30% direct delivery
-> 15% admin/management/non-billable
-> 20-25% SG&A (marketing, rent, software)

That leaves 30%+ profit.

If your delivery cost is 45% or 50%, the moment you add managers, your margin disappears. This is why profit drops as agencies grow.

The math is simple:

1. Close rate above 30%? Raise prices until it drops to 28-35%.
2. Close rate below 30%, delivery cost below 30%? Lower price until delivery cost hits 30-35%.
3. Close rate below 30%, delivery cost above 30%? You can't demonstrate value. Fix your case studies and sales proof first.

Most agencies never run this diagnostic.

They guess at pricing for years.

Calculate both numbers this week.

Your P&L will thank you.

PS. I recorded a 17 minute training video going over this in more depth.

Comment “PRICING” and I’ll DM it to you.

Early comments get priority.

I’ve cracked agency operations

Everything I know in one guide: 

I've scaled multiple agencies past 8-figures while maintaining 35%+ profit margins.

Most agency owners are stuck in negative growth patterns:

→ Revenue’s going up but the P&L’s showing less and less profitability
→ Employees are burning out because of confusing systems
→ Non-ideal clients are onboarded for the sake of an extra billable

I was there too. Until I built the operations system that changed everything.

This is the exact playbook I've used behind every agency I've scaled past $10M/year.

Inside you get:

 - How to keep as much profit as possible while scaling
 - How to track everything with dashboards
 - How to know exactly when to hire (and when not to)
 - How to hold managers accountable with my 9 gates system
 - How to keep clients for 3+ years (not 6 months)

BONUS: How I applied these systems to a founder and 3x'd his profit

The information inside this manual has:

 - Scaled agencies from $100K/month to $800K/month
 - Maintained 35%+ profit margins at scale
 - Reduced owner working hours from 60+ to under 10 per week
 - Dropped churn from 12-16% down to sub-3%

Want the complete 8-figure operations guide?

Connect with me + comment "OPS" below and I'll DM it to you.

PS - Early comments get priority access

Your agency will NOT scale to $800K/mo with AI prompts.

Instead, you need A-grade operations.

A lot of founders think AI will fix their operations. 

It won't. AI can automate tasks, but it can't install the systems that actually make an agency run.

What breaks between $200K and $800K/month:
-> Everyone's busy but nobody owns outcomes
-> You don't know who's at capacity and who's coasting
-> Decisions are based on gut feel, not data
-> You're still the answer to every question

No prompt will fix these problems.

What actually needs to be installed:
> Clear ownership with one person accountable per function
> Dashboards that show capacity, productivity, and profit in real-time
> Hiring math so you know exactly when to add headcount
> SOPs that work without you having to explain things twice

AI can help you write an SOP. It can't make sure anyone follows it. That's the difference between tools and operations.

So I packaged the entire operating system into The $800K/mo Agency COO Playbook.
Inside you get:

 - How to fix the 5 profit & scale killers (before they stall your growth)
 - How to track data like an 8-figure COO
 - How to identify metrics That Matter (And Which To Ignore)
 - How to hit 80% employee utilization with my productivity model
 - How to know exactly when to hire (and who to hire first)
 - How to build SOPs that actually get followed (not ignored)

The information inside this playbook has:

 -> Scaled agencies from $100K/month to $800K/month
 -> Maintained 35%+ profit margins at scale
 -> Reduced owner hours from 60+ to under 10 per week
 -> Taken clients from negative profit to $140K+/month in profit

This guide will do more for your operations than any AI tool on the market.

Comment "COO" and I'll DM it to you.

I run a $10M/year agency with 35%+ margins.
This is only possible because I time-track every employee.
This is how I do it (copy this):

The benchmarks we hold people to:
-> Full-time billable employees: 80% utilization
-> If someone works 100 hours in a month, 80 should be billable
-> Organization-wide average across all billable staff: 70-73%
-> Managers: ~65% billable (they have management duties)
-> Directors/department heads: 0-30% billable depending on structure

How to track it properly:

Your system needs to track at 4 levels:
-> Individual - who did the work
-> Client - which account it's for
-> Project - which deliverable or campaign
-> Task - what specific work was done

One task per individual. You can't have two people logging against the same task or your data becomes useless.

This structure lets you slice the data to find problems:
-> By client: Which accounts are we over-servicing?
-> By project: Which deliverables burn more hours than they should?
-> By individual: Who needs training? Who's a top performer?

What you can answer with this data:
-> Where are we losing margin on delivery?
-> Who's efficient and can train others?
-> Who's inefficient and needs coaching?
-> What's the true cost of each client?
-> Do we have capacity to take on more work or do we need to hire?
-> Which projects consistently go over scope?

Not tracking time is like running a restaurant without tracking food inventory.
-> You don't know when to reorder
-> You don't know what's going to waste
-> You don't know what's being stolen
-> You have no idea what's actually making you money

The trap to avoid falling into is treating time tracking as a punishment.

"You didn't hit your numbers, here's your punishment."

That kills culture.

Time tracking is a tool of optimization, not punishment.
-> Use it to find where processes burn hours unnecessarily
-> Use it to identify who needs training and on what
-> Use it to reward high performers and get them teaching others
-> Use it to see capacity in real time so you can scale without burning people out

The tools don't matter much:

We use Wrike because it's built into our project management. Others use Clockify, Harvest, or Toggl.

What matters:
-> Can track by individual
-> Can track by client
-> Can track by project
-> Can track by task

If it can't do all four, find a different tool.

Bottom line:

When I hear "we don't believe in time tracking," what I actually hear is "we don't know where our margin is going."

This is why those agencies stay stuck.

Time tracking is non-negotiable. I wouldn’t hire anyone that wasn’t willing to do this . It's not up for debate - same as showing up to meetings or responding to client emails.

The agencies winning right now all track time. Every single one.

Took me 10 years to figure out this agency growth trick.

You’re learning it in 30 secs:

The biggest cause of agencies not succeeding isn’t down to poor marketing or anything like that.

It’s everything to do with managing incentives.

You crank on sales but delivery can't keep up. You push productivity but quality drops and clients leave. You focus on retention but margins shrink because you're keeping clients at any cost.

The fix is what I call the Golden Triangle.

Three interlocked levers that drive every scalable agency:

1. Client Retention (top of triangle)

If you can't keep clients, you're not growing. You're just replacing.

The benchmark:
-> Sub-3% monthly churn
-> 18+ month average client lifetime
-> Retention tracked by account manager, not just company-wide


2. Client Results (right side)

This is what earns trust, renewals, and referrals. Retention depends on this.

The benchmark:
-> Results tracked weekly against clear benchmarks
-> Performance measured by client and by AM
-> Client results dashboard reviewed in every team meeting


3. Team Productivity (bottom)

This is where profit lives. How much leverage you get per hour, per client, per system.

The benchmark:
-> 80% utilization for billable staff
-> Efficiency tracked by client and project
-> Capacity forecasted 4-8 weeks out

These three are interlocked. 

You can't crank on one without affecting the other two.

PS. The biggest lever from the above is client retention.

I recorded a 36 minute training covering it in more depth.

Comment “RETENTION” and I’ll DM it to you for free.

The difference between $100K/mo & $1M/mo founders

Spot where you are:

$100K/mo agency founders:

 - Plan for a week, execute for two weeks, then go back to planning
 - Keep tinkering with their offer and fundamentally changing it
 - Have basic dashboards they check occasionally
 - Train employees when they have time
 - Run meetings without agendas
 - Think AI will hand them a perfect offer and save their business
 - Think 20 clients means they don't have product-market fit
 - Have managers but no standardized management methodology
 - Accept 8-12% monthly churn as normal


$1M/mo agency founders:

 - Use AI as a bonus tool but never rely on it to save anything
 - Plan quarterly for one week then execute for 85 days straight
 - Minor iterations 1 at a time to their core offer once it works
 - Have immaculate dashboards with perfect visibility
 - Train every employee 1-2 hours per week minimum
 - Every single meeting has an agenda and they stick to it
 - Know churn is the number one enemy they fight daily
 - Have mapped-out internal communication pipelines with feedback loops
 - Run performance management with near-perfect precision

They’re more ruthless, execute like machines, tolerate zero BS and ALWAYS find a way to hit their growth goals.

--

Big difference in how 7 and 8 figure agencies operate, build cultures, set goals, and execute.

But it’s ALL learnable.

Comment “TRAINING” and I’ll DM you a 63 minute training on scaling an agency to 8-figures

More hires doesn’t mean faster agency growth.

Do this instead (took me to 8 figures):

Install a real and robust accountability system that lasts. 

You can copy mine, I call it the three circles: 

1. Ownership
2. Metric
3. Rhythm.


Circle 1: Ownership

Every core function needs a single owner. One person accountable for the outcome. Not a team, not shared responsibility.

The functions that need clear ownership:

 - Lead generation
 - Sales/closing
 - Onboarding
 - Fulfillment/delivery
 - Client retention
 - Finance/ops

When ownership is unclear, you get "that's not my job." When ownership is clear, you get "I'll handle it." The moment I assigned clear owners to each function, the finger-pointing stopped. Problems got solved instead of passed around.


Circle 2: Metrics

Each owner gets 1-3 KPIs that define success. Specific numbers they're accountable for. Not 10 KPIs, and not a vague "do good work."

Examples:

 - Lead gen owner: pipeline value, cost per qualified lead
 - Sales owner: close rate, average deal size
 - Onboarding owner: time to first result, 30-day satisfaction score
 - Fulfillment owner: utilization rate (target 80%), delivery quality score
 - Retention owner: monthly churn rate (target sub-3%), upsell revenue

The test: can each owner tell you their top 3 KPIs in rank order with specific targets? If not, you haven't actually assigned tangible or useful metrics.


Circle 3: Rhythm

Metrics without review cadence are useless. The rhythm is what makes the system work.

What this looks like:

 - Weekly check-ins on KPIs (15-30 min per function)
 - Dashboards updated in real-time so nothing is a surprise
 - Monthly review loops to spot trends before they become problems
 - Quarterly recalibration of targets based on capacity and growth

The rhythm creates predictability. You stop being surprised by bad months because you saw the leading indicators weeks earlier.

How the three circles connect:

-> Ownership without metrics = people own functions but have no way to know if they're winning
-> Metrics without rhythm = numbers exist but nobody reviews them until it's too late
-> Rhythm without ownership = meetings happen but nobody is accountable for fixing what's broken

You need all three working together.

Comment "KPIS" to get my $10M executive dashboard for free.

Use it to get the ball rolling on this.

A 10-day agency reset guide... Free for the next 48 hours.

Never given this away until now.

I've scaled dozens of agencies past $10M per year while maintaining 35%+ profit margins. This guide is the condensed version of everything I learned.

This guide is for agency owners with intentions of scaling to 8-figures but hit a roadblock along the way:

- You hired managers but profit dropped instead of grew
- Revenue is up but you're working more hours than ever
- You can't take a week off without things falling apart
- You don't know if you can afford to hire or if you're overstaffed
- Clients keep leaving and you're not sure why

Inside you get:

-> Day 1: Identify your top 5 profit & scale killers
-> Day 2: Build your dashboards (know your agency health in under 10 mins)
-> Day 3: Audit your financials against 8-figure benchmarks
-> Day 4: Set the metrics that drive $10M+ Growth
-> Day 5: Install the productivity model (target 80% utilization)
-> Day 6: Delegate your first 20 hours back this week
-> Day 7: Map the 5 hires you need to scale past $10M
-> Day 8: Set up your performance system (without micromanaging)
-> Day 9: Structure team lead bonuses that actually drive results
-> Day 10: Time box your week for max effectiveness

I literally walk you through what needs to be done day-by-day.

The information inside this guide has:

 - Taken a founder from $22K to $141K in monthly profit in 6 months (sales stayed the same)
 - Increased one founder's agency valuation from $1.45M to $5.77M
 - Reduced owner hours from 60+ per week to under 5
 - Dropped churn from 12%+ down to sub-3%

Want the complete 10-Day Agency Reset?

Comment "RESET" below and I'll DM it to you.

Early comments get priority access.

Remote work fosters laziness if it’s not managed correctly.

Thankfully I’ve solved it (copy this framework).

This is what most agency owners face:

- Strategy meetings that never end
- Planning sessions that stretch for weeks
- "Research phases" that go nowhere
- Endless discussion about what to do next
- Zero implementation

I used to deal with these constantly as well…

Until I built and implemented this framework (keeps my employees at minimum 80% utilization):

1. Start with outcomes
-> Every role gets clear objectives with metrics and KPIs attached
-> Employees must know what they're accountable for in rank order
-> They should be able to repeat back their top 3 priorities and the targets attached to each
-> If they can't, expectations haven't actually been set

2. Build dashboards that make performance visible
-> Utilization by person, updated weekly
-> When everyone can see how full each person actually is, the "I'm slammed" excuse disappears
-> Track at 4 levels: individual, client, project, task
-> The data should tell you who's at 80% and who's at 40% without asking anyone

3. Tie accountability to consequences
-> Promotions and raises connect directly to hitting targets
-> No hitting targets, no advancement
-> When we implemented this, people "magically" weren't as busy anymore
-> The ones who were coasting either stepped up or left. The ones actually slammed stayed.

4. Require time-bound commitments
-> "I'll try" and "I'll get to it" are not acceptable responses
-> Real commitment sounds like: "I will have the first draft to you by Thursday at noon"
-> No date and no specifics means no real commitment
-> Follow up in writing so there's a record

5. Cut idle capacity
-> A person at 80% utilization has time to do the work and meet with their manager
-> A person at 20% utilization causes problems (drama and interpersonal conflict)
-> When you right-size the team, the noise disappears and the strategic work finally gets done
-> We let three department heads go in 2 months and profitability doubled within 6 months, going from low 20s to mid 40s EBITDA

6. Watch for these red flags
-> "That's not my responsibility"
-> "That's an accounts problem"
-> "We're just responsible for this thing, not that"
-> Anyone saying these phrases is optimizing for themselves instead of the business. Replace them with people who understand client value is a team sport.

Low productivity is 100% cultural problem. Some agencies carry it all the way to $300K/month before it becomes unsustainable. Others address it at $20K/month and have a far easier path to 8 figures.

The earlier you fix it, the easier everything else becomes.

PS. Comment “EMPLOYEES” and I’ll send you my 15 minute management video training for free.

I bet your agency pricing is leaving 10%+ profit on the table.

Quick 2-minute test to find out:

Pull your last 6 months of proposals and calculate two numbers.

1. Your close rate
- Above 40%? You're undercharging.
- Around 30-35%? Sweet spot.
- Below 25%? Might be overpriced or wrong audience.

You don't want everybody to say yes. You want the right clients to say yes. The ones who understand your value, not just your price.

High close rates feel good but they attract bargain hunters who churn in 90 days.


2. Your direct labor cost as a percentage of price
 - Above 30%? You're bleeding profit on every project.
 - At or below 30%? Your pricing math is healthy.

Direct labor means the team doing the billable work. If it costs you more than 30% to deliver, you either need to raise prices or improve efficiency.

This is the 30-30 Rule:

1. Direct costs under 30% of price
2. Close rate around 30%

These two numbers decide if your pricing is sustainable.

--

Close rate too high? Raise prices. Keep raising until you're in the 30-35% range.

Direct costs too high? Improve efficiency before you lower prices.

Agencies try to fix profitability by closing more deals. The math says fix your pricing and efficiency first.

PS. Want free access to my unit economics agency calculator to get more granular on your numbers?

Comment “CALCULATOR” and I’ll ping it over in the DMs.

The fastest way to churn an agency client in one sentence

I’ll go first:

“Let me check with the team and get back to you”

“I'll have someone follow up on that”

“Results are in the dashboard, let us know if you have questions”

We hit all our KPIs this month." (said with zero context)

“That's outside our scope”

“Nothing major to report this month”

I studied 100+ agency P&Ls to find common cash leaks.

5 I saw over and over again:

1. Inconsistent delivery

When delivery quality changes by client or by project, you leak margin constantly because you're always fixing mistakes.

The fix:
-> SOP with recorded video for every repeatable process
-> Quality benchmarks defined before work starts
-> Same client experience regardless of who delivers


2. No dashboards or real data

If you can't see what's happening, you can't fix it. Agencies that don't measure performance cannot manage it.

The fix:
-> Dashboards for sales, delivery, finance, client satisfaction, capacity
-> Know your agency's status in under 10 minutes
-> Review weekly with owners accountable for each number


3. Poor capacity planning

If you don't know how busy your team is in advance, you either overhire or underhire. Both kill profit. Overhire and you're paying for idle time. Underhire and you burn your team out, quality drops, clients leave.

The fix:
-> Target 80% utilization for billable staff
-> Forecast capacity 4-8 weeks out minimum
-> Track by individual, not just by team


4. Weak accountability systems

If your team doesn't have clear targets and doesn't review them consistently, performance drifts. The lack of this loop makes your business worse over time rather than better.

The fix:
-> Every role has objectives with metrics in rank order
-> Employees can repeat back their top 3 priorities with specific targets
-> Weekly reviews against the numbers


5. Low retention and referrals

When churn is high, you constantly pay acquisition costs to replace clients you could have kept. Clients who could have become your sales force through referrals.

The math:
-> 10% monthly churn = $1.5M agency ceiling
-> 5% monthly churn = $3M ceiling
-> 2.5% monthly churn = $6M ceiling

Same closes per month. Wildly different outcomes based on how long clients stay.

The fix:
-> Target sub-3% monthly churn
-> Track churn by account manager, not just company-wide
-> Build systems to generate referrals from satisfied clients

I recorded a 66 minute training covering all 5 in more depth.

Comment “PROFIT” and I’ll DM it to you.

The agency model that worked in 2020 is already outdated.

Here's where the industry is headed (and how to stay ahead):

 - Early 2000s: Traditional agencies. Relationships and referrals, not scalable.
 - 2005: Digital agencies. More services, but margins dropped.
 - 2022: Strategy-only started dying. Clients stopped paying for thinking without execution.
 - 2023: Digital product agencies. Content became the sales engine.
 - 2024: Outcome-based agencies. Done-for-you expanded into done-with-you and DIY offerings.
 - 2026+: Specific knowledge agencies. Compete on codified IP and proprietary frameworks.

The pattern: Services → Outcomes → Knowledge.

The agencies scaling from $3M to $10M aren't winning by working harder.

They're winning by using:
-> Proprietary frameworks clients can't get elsewhere
-> Codified insights and data that compound over time

You can't outwork the market anymore. AI will see to that. You have to build systems that outthink it.

So where is your agency on this timeline?

If you're still built on retainers and deliverables with no proprietary methodology, you're two stages behind.

The fix is to shift your model one stage forward.
-> Selling services? Start packaging outcomes.
-> Selling outcomes? Start codifying your knowledge into frameworks.
-> Have frameworks? Build the systems to scale them without adding headcount.

Your margins and valuation move with it.

PS. Comment "SCALE" and I’ll DM you my 8-Figure Agency Operations Playbook.

My onboarding system increased my client lifetime value by 250%. Copy it:

Agencies are more likely to lose clients because of a chaotic first 3 months than underperformance.

Which affirms how pivotal a solid onboarding flow is.

Use this framework:
> Expectation setting (35%) - clarity, alignment, confidence
> Experience (30%) - communication, speed, professionalism
> Education (35%) - clients who understand don’t churn

When onboarding is structured:
-> Clients stay longer
-> Upsells increase
-> Referrals multiply
-> Fulfillment gets easier

Comment “SCALE” and I’ll DM you my 8 figure agency operations playbook.

“We need a new offer and funnel to scale to $10M/year”

Agency founders, heard this one before?

After auditing hundreds of agencies, I can confidently say that you probably don’t need a new offer.

The thing that’s holding you back is mismanaged data.

The good news is that this is very fixable.

Especially with a handful of simple dashboards

I use 7 of them:

 - Financial: P&L vs budget, cash position, days sales outstanding
 - Sales: Pipeline value, close rates by rep, revenue forecast
 - Marketing: Lead flow, CAC, LTV to CAC ratio (target 3:1+)
 - Client Results: Results vs benchmarks by client and by AM, updated weekly
 - Client Satisfaction: NPS scores, churn by company and by AM, upsells and reductions
 - Productivity: Utilization by person and team (target 80%), efficiency by client
 - Capacity: How full everyone is at company, role, and individual level

Each dashboard has an owner. Each owner reviews weekly, does a deeper monthly review, and recalibrates quarterly.

With this structure, I can see the health of the entire business in under 10 minutes per week.
The client satisfaction piece is worth expanding on:

-> Quarterly NPS surveys sent to every client
-> Follow-up calls to get the real story behind the score
-> Any score below 9, we don't ask for referrals. We fix the problem first.
-> Churn tracked by individual account manager

That last one is important. When I started tracking churn by AM, I found some had 2% monthly churn while others had 15-20%. Same clients, wildly different retention based on who managed the account. The dashboard exposed it. Without the data, I would have blamed "bad clients" instead of fixing the real problem.

You should be able to know exactly where your agency stands in under 10 minutes. If you can't, your data architecture needs a bit of work (which is fine).

Comment “SCALE” and I’ll DM you my 8-figure agency operations manual.

It’s got everything you need to start implementing the above in the correct way.

A 9-step system to fix low-performing agency cultures.
Here's the full framework (copy it).

Here’s how it works:

There are three gaps that create soft culture. Each gap has three gates. Until all nine gates are closed, accountability problems are management problems.

Gap 1: Knowledge (Do they know what to do?)

1. Talent - Did we hire someone who's done this job before? If not, we set them up to fail before they started.
2. Teaching - Did we onboard them properly with recorded SOPs showing exactly how we do things here? If not, they're guessing.
3. Training - Are we coaching them on an ongoing basis against their metrics? If not, they have no feedback loop.


Gap 2: Importance (Do they know what matters most?)

4. Prioritization - Is the manager clear on the priority order? If the manager doesn't know what's #1 vs #3, neither will the employee.
5. Communication - Have those priorities been communicated clearly? Not once in a Slack message, but repeatedly and suited to the employee.
6. Expectation - Are there specific numbers attached? "Do good work" is not an expectation. "80% utilization, 95% client satisfaction, sub-3% churn on your accounts" is an expectation.

The expectation test: Can your employees repeat back their top 3 priorities in rank order with the specific targets attached? If not, expectations haven't been set.


Gap 3: Action (Will they actually do it?)

7. Culture - Does the employee understand how we do things here? What behaviors are expected and what's not acceptable?
8. Commitment - Have they given time-bound commitment? Real commitment sounds like "I will have the first draft to you by Thursday at noon." If they say "yeah, I'll get to it" with no date attached, that's not commitment. That's a vague acknowledgment that will be forgotten by tomorrow.
9. Accountability - When they miss, do we hold them accountable every single time? If someone misses a due date repeatedly and the manager doesn't escalate, they'll keep missing. That's a manager problem.

Until all nine gates are closed, your culture problem is actually a management issue. Full stop.

I tell agency owners this all the time. They come to me saying "my team is lazy" or "I can't find good people." Then I audit the situation and find managers who haven't set clear expectations, haven’t gotten real commitment, and haven’t held anyone accountable when things slip.

Close the gates. 

Performance will then fix itself accordingly.

How we doubled this agency founder’s top line revenue without closing more deals:

We cut churn from 14% to under 4% in 6 months.

Here’s why fixing churn is the fastest way to scale:

(1) Every time you cut churn in half, revenue doubles
Retention compounds. The longer clients stay, the more your top line grows without needing new sales.

(2) Profit grows faster than revenue
High churn bleeds profit. Lower churn means stronger margins. In this case, profit didn’t just double, percentage profit went up too.

(3) The magic number is 2.5%
That’s the benchmark I use with every agency I scale. At that level, you’re set up for long term growth without constant sales pressure.

(4) Retention fuels 8-figure scale
Sales alone won’t get you there. Agencies that hit 8 figures do it by compounding revenue through client retention.

The result?

A highly profitable, highly scalable agency that can actually sustain 7–8 figures.

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taplio

The Battle

Blair Forrest

Nick Avaria

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Blair Forrest's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreBlair Forrest's LinkedIn Performance