Jake Summerhayes

Working with founders and business Leaders to craft powerful and authentic personal brands. 

Why? Because reputation matters. 

- 82% of customers trust a company when their senior management members are active on social media

- Brand messages are shared 24x more on personal accounts compared to company accounts

- Customers are willing to pay 13.5x more for elite industry experts

Yet only 1% of LinkedIn's 700 million users share weekly content. 

Our mission at Kurogo is to solve that.

Kurogo is derived from the Japanese ‘Kuroko’ referring to the black clad stagehands in traditional Japanese theatre.

The convention of wearing black implying the invisibility of the wearer on stage. 

We are your Kurogo. 

Directing, driving and delivering your personal brand from the background. 

Giving you the spotlight to excel in what you do best.

Head Of Client Services

Client: “Content approved, no changes”
Me (a nearly 30-year-old man ):

Client Services Director @ Kurogo | We create thought leaders through Personal Branding

“Who the fuck is Steven Bartlett?”

That was the response my Mrs had a few years ago when I said I wanted to watch Dragon's Den, because it was his first season.

This marketing bubble is much smaller than you think.

Go and touch some grass.

Just admit it, you’re never going to look at that saved post again…

I’m 29. I lead client services at a remote agency. 

My day: 

7:00am-1:00pm Work
1:00pm-3:00pm Break
3:00pm-4:30pm Work

Honestly any structure other than this would be bullshit, because it changes everyday.

My metrics for success are:
- Client Retention
- Team Happiness
- Team Performance

And whilst there is a list of tasks and responsibilities that fall under the pursuit of those, every day, week or month ends up being different. 

Things come up, priorities shift and I’m given the freedom to be flexible.

As long as we’re growing the business, and making progress towards those metrics, nothing else matters.

I am really not looking forward to 2026 

It's going to be an incredibly tough year for myself and Kurogo.

We're going to be dealing with a lot of consequences of 2025.

- Hitting Record MMR multiple times
- Crossing the £1,000,000 ARR mark
- Having our largest team yet 
- Having our biggest social ever
- Signing a record number of clients 
- Records across all client delivery metrics
- Record campaign performance metrics 

These are all huge problems because now we have to beat them again this year.

AND I need to hire a bunch of people to help us do it.

My steak is too juicy and my lobster is too buttery.

If you can be arsed being a part of it, keep an eye out on all personal and company socials.

We'll be releasing some roles soon...

I once fired a client during their onboarding call. 

They spent less than 15 minutes on the books.

What did the job was they were throwing around phrases like:
”What guarantees do I have after the contract ends?”
”This other agency offered me x, y and z”
”Can we add a refund if I’m not happy?”

(Bearing in mind they had already been back and forth with the sales team for over a month)

But these things weren’t the issue; they never are. 

Just symptoms of someone who’s jumped into something before they were ready. The reasons for which ultimately don’t matter. 

As soon as it becomes obvious we’re starting off on that foot, it’s best we end it before we both have a shit time and the regret spirals into resentment.

Like my first relationship
- I didn’t actually fire them, it was ‘mutual’ of course
- They went with someone else and came back a few months later
- We had a great time for 6-months and parted ways amicably 

Alls well that ends well.

When people say social media is cyclical this is what they mean…

It’s so easy to feel like every other business has a perfect product or service.

Then you buy a toaster from a leading UK retailer that turns out not to be deep enough to fit a full slice of bread, so now all your toast comes with 2 inches of bread OR you flip it round to create an ombre that would have 2012 jealous. 

Every single morning, I'm reminded that the world is full of incompetence.

And you're probably doing better than you think.

4 years ago, I joined Kurogo as their 4th hire.

We’re now up to 20 of us with over £100k MRR.

In honour of that anniversary here’s my 4 biggest lessons beginning with f….

- Fucking focus: 1 thing done well is better than 10 things done poorly.
- Fuck Hustle Culture: Slow is smooth and smooth is fast, stop rushing
- Fucking Plan: It will never go the way you think, but it gives perspective.
- Fuck being scared of feedback: It’s never personal, but it is necessary.

4 years, 4 f’s, very fucking worth it. 

Here’s to another year of doing what we do. Sometimes wrong, mostly right, never boring.

Bonus For 2026: Fuck your shit AI content (still)

I check one number every week: client churn. If it's high, nothing else matters.

Most agency owners obsess over new leads.

But if your clients keep leaving, you’re running on a treadmill.

Acquisition feeds your ego. Retention feeds your bank balance.

Every Monday, I review churn with my senior team. If that number’s not low, nothing else in the business works. You can pile on as many new clients as you want-it’s like running a bath with the plug out.

Here’s what moved our retention from “average” to “best-in-class” in the last 6 months:

1. Set real expectations.
Tempting to promise the world in sales calls. But if you do, you’ll deal with unhappy clients and refunds. Be clear about what they get and what they don’t.

2. Nail the first 30 days.
Onboarding sets the tone. Give them a win in the first 48 hours. Show progress, no matter how small. Always tell them what’s next. Uncertainty kills trust.

3. Over-communicate.
We send weekly roundups: what we did, results, stats, next steps. Monthly reports give the big picture. Never let a client wonder if you’re working for them.

4. Do what you say, when you say.
Missed deadlines are worse than missed features. I left an agency once, not because they failed to deliver, but because they never did it on time. Consistency > fireworks.

5. Incentivise your team on retention.
Forget fancy bonus schemes. Reward your team for keeping clients. Simple target, simple reward.

Retention is not just about service. It’s about trust, clarity, and doing the basics right every time.

Want to scale? Obsess over churn.

ps. Save this post for the week you feel like you’re losing clients faster than you gain them.

Every business has three core systems:

1️⃣ Acquisition (get attention and leads)
2️⃣ Value Delivery (give clients what you promised)
3️⃣ Infrastructure (everything behind the scenes)

Most people scale the first one too early. 
They pour fuel on the fire before fixing leaks.

Here’s my rule: Don’t scale until less than 10% of your clients have problems. 

If you ignore this, you only scale the headaches.

Client experience is the same. 

Call clients at key points. 
Ask where the process broke. 
Use their feedback to smooth the journey.

Acquisition feeds your ego. Retention feeds your bank balance.

Everyone loves chasing new clients. Feels good. Makes you look busy. But if you can’t keep them, you’re running a business with the plug out.

Here’s what I see all the time:

- People refuse to work for free, saying they’re “worth more.” They spend 6 months searching for that first paid client.
- Meanwhile, the ones willing to work for free land their first client in 30 days, get proof, and start charging real money within 60.
- The ego crowd is still arguing about their value. The others are building a real business.

You don’t need to quit your day job to start. Validate your offer. Get a few case studies. Then focus on what actually matters: keeping those clients.

Retaining clients is where the real game starts. Most people obsess over acquisition. But acquisition is vanity. Retention is sanity.

Here are 5 things that have doubled our retention rate in the last 6 months:

1️⃣ Set real expectations. Overpromise in sales and you’ll create unhappy clients who leave fast. Be honest about what you deliver.

2️⃣ Nail the first 30 days. Give your client a clear win within 48 hours. Remove uncertainty. Let them know what happens next. First impressions stick.

3️⃣ Weekly communication. Every Friday, we send clients a roundup: what we did, what worked, and what’s next. If you don’t remind clients of your value, they’ll forget it.

4️⃣ Do what you say, when you say it. I’ve left agencies-not because the work was bad, but because promises weren’t kept. Reliability beats over-delivery every time.

5️⃣ Incentivise your team for retention. Tie bonuses to client stickiness, not just acquisition. The team cares about what you measure.

If you can’t retain clients, you’ll never scale. It’s that simple.

Acquisition is loud. Retention is quiet-but it’s where the money is.

Save this for the days you’re tempted to chase shiny new leads.

Content Writer @ Kurogo | Former Rugby League Player Turned Writer

I played Rugby League for 16 years, with the dream of eventually making it as a pro.

But that dream died a tragic death.

So I proceeded to have a bit of an identity crisis and felt fairly lost on this spinning rock.

Then in 2019, I stumbled across writing, more specifically, copywriting. It was pretty much love at first sight.

So I decided to go all in on writing online whilst being a bit of a nomad (I eventually ended up living in southern Spain).

Since then, I've written for 60+ business owners, with the aim of helping them: 

• Attract top talent.
• Book more meetings.
• Increase brand awareness.
• Stand out from competition.
• Gain more newsletter subscribers.

Now, I work at one of the UK's leading Personal Branding agencies.

I'm sure you've heard the phrase 'personal branding' a lot. I'm sure it probably makes you want to curl up into a ball and cringe your little noggin' off.

But the thing is: 

Building your brand as a professional in this day and age is pretty bloody crucial.

Why? Well...

Your reputation matters.
How you're perceived matters.
And the stories you share matter.

But doing all of that, and creating brand content can take a helluva lot of time and effort. 

Thankfully, that's where Kurogo comes in.

To put it simply, if you're a brand owner, C-suite exec, or an outright professional in your field, that:

a) Isn't satisfied with your current content.
b) Has no time to create content.
c) Doesn't know where to start.
d) All of the above.

Let us help you create content that: 

→ Entertains
→ Educates
→ Provides actionable advice

That’s about it for now. 

If you fancy a chat, feel free to send me a message.

Other than that, see you on the timeline.

Cheers :)

Bruce M.

This photo was taken in January 2020.

At the time, everything had kind of fallen apart.

I’d just quit my job, come out of a long-term relationship, stopped playing rugby after 16 years, and had recently lost my mum.

Safe to say, I was pretty lost. 

I had literally no idea what I wanted to do with my life. 

Didn’t think I had many skills. Didn’t try in school. Didn’t go to uni. No real career plan or clear direction.

But a couple of weeks earlier, I stumbled across a video of someone (a blogger or someone like that) travelling the world and working from their laptop.

At the time, that felt like a genuinely impossible concept. But it also looked cool as fuck. 

“You can make money and work from anywhere in the world? Wtf??” I asked.

So I thought I’d give it a go.

I took what little money I had left from my last payslips, got in my banged-up Renault Clio, and started driving around Europe trying to make this “digital nomad” thing work.

I tried all sorts of online businesses and remote jobs. Most of them failed miserably.

But writing was sort of the one common thread, and the thing I kept coming back to.

Then covid hit, and I got stuck in Poland for a couple of months. For me, that lockdown was a period where I could just be completely alone and sharpen my skills. 

When lockdown lifted, I made my way to Spain.

I learned the language, met my now partner, and ended up staying here far longer than I ever planned.

All in all, I messed up more times than I’d like to admit.

I constantly questioned whether I’d made my life better or worse. For a long time, I genuinely wasn’t sure.

I’m still not perfect now.

But I’m much happier than I was back then, that's for sure.

6 years from this photo, I work remotely, writing for people I’d have never imagined even speaking to at that point in my life.

I’m not trying to brag or be cringe here.

But if you’re in a similar place right now, and there’s something that excites you but also scares the life out of you (even if it feels like a completely foreign concept), just give it a go this year.

I wasn’t sure I’d made the right decision for a good few years.

Looking back now, I’m so glad I did.

Bruce Martinus

Ghostwritten for 60+ founders and CEOs | Content Writer @ Kurogo

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