FlexOps

I set up FlexOps to help founders build and scale their digital agency.

If you're here, and you're a digital agency founder, you've likely:

-- built a great agency that's generating at least 25k MRR
-- got a team of between 1 and 20 people (maybe a few more)
-- got no shortage of ambition to scale, but there are things holding you back

The good news is that through FlexOps, I'll help you to:

-- Increase your agency revenue
-- Scale your company, so it grows around you, giving you more time and freedom as a founder
-- Lower the amount of stress and strain you feel week to week

***More Revenue, More Time, Less Stress***

Founder

Centus

As of 2023, Centus has helped over 150 leading brands build their influencer programs and has paid out over $100m to over 5,000 independent content creators.

As Managing Director, I ran the business and reported directly to the Founder. I oversaw our team of 30 people across Ireland, the US, and Europe. 

I had six direct reports across our departments; planning, buying, campaigns, sales, people & finance

Managing Director

Transitioned into the role of Account Director after 18 months operating as an AM. The main roles and tasks I carry out on a day-to-day basis include, but are not limited to:

→ Managing and overseeing all DTC brand accounts at a strategic level.
→ Leading the Account Management team (4) - who manage the clients, and the Campaigns Team (6) - lead the execution of 300+ campaigns each month across 25+ brands.
→ Leading the recruitment for both teams, and assisting the MD with hiring across the wider business.
→ Liaising with each team to help our clients hit their month-on-month advertising spend targets but also ensuring we're doing so while achieving their CPA goals.

Account Director

Transitioned into the role of Senior Account Manager after 6 months as AM. The main roles and tasks I carry out on a day-to-day basis include, but are not limited to:

→ Managing and overseeing all B2C brand accounts at a strategic level.
→ Leading a team of six people, who manage and execute on 100's of campaigns each month across 25+ brands.
→ Assisting the MD in the recruitment of new team members for roles on both the Brand and Sales sides of the business.
→ Liaising with brands to hit their month-on-month advertising spend targets, but ensuring we're also doing so while achieving their CPA goals.
→ Establishing and tracking both the company and individual KPIs.

Senior Account Manager

Centus is a performance-based influencer marketing agency. We help direct-response brands acquire new customers through YouTube and Instagram in the most efficient and cost-effective way possible.

As an Account Manager, the key day-to-day tasks included, but were not limited to:

→ Strategizing with global DTC brands to create YouTube and Instagram sponsorships that bring in high-performance results
→ Planning with creators and talent agencies to produce successful, high-quality integrations
→ Creating briefs for brands that creators use to develop their content and integrations.
→ Managing brands utilizing 7-figure advertising budgets, and reporting month-on-month to ensure acquisition targets are hit as effectively as possible.

Account Manager

Brown Bear Marketing

Brown Bear Marketing is a fully done-for-you content marketing service for small businesses and startups.

We take over a company's entire content marketing operation and create their strategy, produce articles for them, drive targeted traffic to those articles and then convert that traffic to qualified leads.

If you'd like any additional information about the service we provide or the clients we've worked with, feel free to get in touch at ross@brownbear.marketing

Founder, Content Strategist

Fliplet

Fliplet is an enterprise mobile app creation and management solution that enables organisations to streamline business processes and improve communication effectively.

As Content Marketing Manager, my main task was to ensure that Fliplet was educating organisations on the topic of enterprise mobility to ensure they understood the importance and influence that mobile strategy would have on their growth going forward.

A summary of typical daily tasks included but was not limited to the following:

→ Creation and management of content marketing editorial calendar
→ Taking the lead on keyword research and making recommendations based on targets (edit: Organic traffic rose by 97% during my time as content manager)
→ Entirely responsible for community management and social promotional activity
→ Using Google Analytics to produce reports on content performance and making strategic recommendations for improvement
→ Supporting the creation of high-quality content, internally.
→ Managing freelancers, contractors, and agency content writers to ensure we received content of that meets our editorial guidelines and expectations.

Content Marketing Manager

MyFamilyClub Ltd, DC Thomson & Co. Ltd

MyFamilyClub is a website that aims to help families with children of all ages to save, manage and make money.

Focused on the digital marketing channel of the company. That being said I had the opportunity to work on a wide range of elements within the business.

→ Managed the social accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest) consisting of a 125,000 user community
→ Created an effective mix of viral, evergreen, and informative content on a daily basis
→ Maintained and updated the affiliate traffic/accounts weekly, driving traffic to the site through appropriate SEO and relevant content
→ The compilation of monthly reports gave me an opportunity to analyse how the business was performing and WHY. 
→ A solid understanding of e-mail marketing and newsletters, leading campaigns reaching over 250,000 users.
→ Direct involvement in business growth and development introduced me to the fundamentals of growth marketing and hacking.

Digital Marketing Manager

WatchFit

WatchFit is a dynamic, evolving online library of resources and information relating to health and fitness. The company has also launched an app for iOS and Android devices.

During my time with WatchFit I took the opportunity, within a fast-paced professional environment, to develop my expertise in a range of marketing roles and practices, most notably focusing on the following:

→ SEO (Google AdWords, Moz) 
→ Social Media Management (LinkedIn)
→ Marketing & PR
→ Business Development
→ Editorial - CMS (WordPress) - Formatting & optimising articles

Social Media Marketing Intern

Helping Digital Agency Owners Operate & Grow Their Business | Founder @ FlexOps | Agency Operations & Management

Hi, I’m Ross.

I help agency owners get unstuck and grow their business.

There are 5 key areas I tackle with my clients:

1. Founder - Understand what you want for the business and your role in it
2. Clients - Retain and grow clients through exceptional service
3. People - Get the right people, in the right place, doing the right things
4. Processes - Build a system that the agency operates on
5. Pipeline - Working with more of the right clients for your agency

I’ve helped my clients go from:

- Nearly quitting their agency → Loving their leading role and keen to grow
- A dysfunctional team → Organised, aligned and autonomous
- Losing clients from bad systems → Clear processes for the team to execute
- No defined customer → Calendar full of prospects that fit his ICP

If you are an Agency Owner struggling with these problems…

Send me a DM 📥

Let’s see if I can help.

Ross Brown

I've solely used LinkedIn to grow FlexOps for 2.5 yrs

From Monday, that changes.

I'm branching out. Taking myself out of my newfound comfort zone.

Or, whatever you want to call it.

I'm excited!

Enter...

- Weekly YouTube content
- 3x Email Newsletters per/week
- Products + services running alongside 1:1 coaching

I can help more (of the right) agency owners by meeting them where they:

1. Need support the most; now
2. Consume content/learn outside of LinkedIn

Why now?

Well... 

Back in June 2023, I had:

- Only posted on LinkedIn a handful of times.
- Just set up FlexOps. Zero clients
- No real plan

The business was generating precisely €0.

I honestly had no idea who I should really be helping.

2.5 years later....

- Thousands of DMs sent
- 400+ pieces of content posted on LinkedIn
- 40+ agency owners supported 1:1

I know exactly who I can help (and who I can't)

As of today, I'm at capacity.

So why on earth am I ramping up my marketing activity?

1. I'm not naive. Things change, clients can churn.
2. I can help more agency owners (in different ways)

Heading into next year, my ambition is simple:

Help more agency owners build healthy, profitable agencies that don't rely solely on them.

Easy, right?

I often speak with clients about building from a position of strength rather than scrambling from a position of stress.

I'm gonna follow my own advice!

Helping agency owners build a 1m+ ARR business that isn’t reliant on them

Here's a list of people you should follow if you want to grow your agency in 2026

Quick context behind this.

In 2025, I saw way too many posts on here saying how bad LinkedIn is. How awful the reach is, etc. 

It does nothing, serves nobody, and doesn't help you do anything meaningful for your business

Nothing wrong with the odd rant, but come on!

My view?

On the flip side, there are countless people producing interesting, useful, insightful, and genuinely helpful content on this platform

Of course, my world is the marketing & advertising agency space.

So, here are people who I think have done a great job of actually sharing things that will help agency owners:

a) Grow their agency
b) Run their agency with more confidence & clarity

I'm likely missing hundreds of great people, so feel free to tag anyone who isn't here that you think should be.

I've tried to stick to people that I've at least engaged with or spoken to at some point and/or I see regularly posting on LinkedIn (that's the whole point of this list, really!)

__________

Jack Porter-Smith - former owner of 2m+ profit per/year agency, author of several books, and a fantastic human

Kelly Molson - former owner, sold her agency, now helping others build the lifestyle agency they dream of

Mat Bennett - the first agency advisor I came across ~3 years ago. Former owner, also sold it

Emily Hatton - recently her insights on AI and how agencies can/should use it have been excellent. More broadly agency/business operations, too

Rich Brett - no nonsense, incredibly helpful advice in the realm of FinOps. 

Josh Peacock - a fellow Irishman, but more importantly, he has helped several of my clients hire exceptional talent. Runs multiple businesses that help/support agencies 

Kate Bridge - supports agencies on the Ops side of things as they scale. Practical advice that you apply immediately!

Romans Ivanovs - no BS, in-depth advice on scaling an agency that isn't reliant on the owner

Chris DuBois - exceptional advice relating to positioning, but more broadly, Chris runs a community for agency owners (and advisors) that is one of the most helpful resources I've come across

Andy West - publishes the fantastic 'The Agency Advisory' - I think he's on issue 77 now and still going strong

Taylor McMaster - helps agencies with their account management (something I'd say is either underserved or done poorly quite often)

__________

There are plenty more. I almost feel embarrassed about stopping here.

Help me out and add to this list so we can all fill our feed with excellence!

Of course, I'll wrap this up by adding myself (Ross Brown). 

I've been sharing content on building a healthy, profitable agency for 2.5 years now. 

If you'd like something that isn't LinkedIn:

📧 My Newsletter: https://bit.ly/4owDQn6
📹 My YouTube: http://bit.ly/4pFBTpq

I spent most of my 20s trying to be a morning person

You know the type!

Up at 5 am. Cold plunge. Gym. 

Starting work before the average Joe even opens their eyes.

I'd manage it for a couple of weeks… Then stop.

Because:

a) I don't actually like mornings
b) I was only doing it because someone on Instagram said I should

Classic case of trying to live someone else's life.

Fast forward a few years. I became a dad 

And now?

Well, you'd never believe it...

I'm up between 4:30 and 5:30 every day

No cold plunges, mind you.

Sometimes I wake up later, and I'll be welcomed by a little foot in the face

That's fine too.

5:30 to 8.30 am is family time now. Getting the kids fed, dressed, out the door.

Wouldn't change it for the world.

Funnily enough, I used to beat myself up about not being a "morning person"

Turns out I love it when I get to do certain things!

Who wants 3 months of 1:1 coaching for free?

Here's how you can get it.

I've spent the last 2.5 years using LinkedIn to build my business. 

I've worked 1:1 with 40+ agency owners. 

Now?

I'm branching out. 

This month I've started:

- Publishing weekly YouTube content
- Sending Email Newsletters (3x per/week)
- Launching products + services alongside 1:1 work

Why?

I'm confident I can reach more agency owners - and help those people - outside of this platform (as wonderful as it is)

So, I'm running a giveaway in December to kick it off.

One agency owner will win

→ A full audit of your agency
→ 3 months of 1:1 coaching (with yours truly)

This is worth ~€7,500 based on my current rates.

To enter:

1. Sign up for my newsletter
2. Subscribe to my YouTube channel

Links below in the comments and in the 'Featured' section of my profile

The winner will be announced on 19th December

_____

And in case you're thinking, "Is this for me?"

Agency owners doing <100k per/month who:

- Have had a tricky year
- Feel stuck or a bit lost
- Want an outside perspective that you've never had

This might be your moment!

I don't have a magic wand. I can't help agency owners turn things around overnight. But if this year has proven anything to me, it's...

1. Most agencies encounter that same blocker at some point between 500k and 1.5m revenue

2. Most agency owners at that stage are, in fact, the blocker

3. Most of those owners who are a blocker, aren't prioritising what's a) right for the agency, and b) right for them

With virtually every client (over the last 2.5 years, not just this year), I've found myself helping them figure out:

- What they want
- What are the key things they need to do to get there
- What they need to prioritise now or this week/month
- What they need to STOP doing

It doesn't matter what the agency does, or who the owner is/what their background is

It's the most common thing I've come across since I started this whole advisory/coaching gig

So...

Here's a little something for you agency owners. 

I use this myself and I'll get clients to do a version of it, too

It's a daily filter. 

It takes, 5-10 minutes a day to use.

→ It'll help keep you on track each day. 
→ Filter out the things that aren't important. 
→ Focus on the things that you need to/want to.

It's incredibly simple and straightforward (deliberately!)

You can get it here: https://lnkd.in/eimwheeK

If you've been spinning your wheels this year or banging your head against the wall, give this a go. 

It'll help you get a grip on your own time and get back to building the agency you want.

P.S. Christmas Jazz for the win. What a playlist. Get on it!! 🎅

Helping Service-Based Solopreneurs Improve How They Sell, Positively Impacting And Increasing Their Sales | One-to-One Sales Coaching | Elevate Your Sales with Soaring Sales Academy | Unleash Your Sales Potential

Are you a service-based solopreneur who’s great at your craft… but sales still feels heavy, awkward, or hit-and-miss?
Do you hesitate on calls, discount too soon, or leave conversations unsure what went wrong?

From hesitation and stress → to calm, confident, clear sales conversations that close.
That’s the shift I help you make — without feeling salesy.

I’m Steve Donnellan. After 35+ years in sales and marketing, I learned something simple and powerful: confidence isn’t luck — it’s structure. When you follow a clean conversation path and handle resistance with calm, sales stops draining you and starts working.

My work is human-centred and practical. I teach service-based business owners a suite of proprietary frameworks that make selling feel natural:
➡️ Power of Problems™ — start every conversation where it matters: the client’s real problem.
➡️ PPP Framework™ (Prepare, Pre-empt, Probe) — reduce objections before they appear.
➡️ 9-Step Sales Conversation Flow — your end-to-end map for a clear, confident call.
➡️ CLEAR Framework™ — handle objections with composure: Clarify, Listen & Empathise, Explore & Isolate, Acknowledge, Recommend.

What changes when we work together - 
🟣 You sound like yourself — and sell with integrity.
🟣 Calls feel calm and structured.
🟣 Objections become openings, not roadblocks.
🟣 Win rates rise. Stress drops.

Programs include my live workshops and Sales Confidence Accelerator™ — for service-based business owners who want a repeatable way to sell with clarity and confidence.

Next steps - 
🔗 Hit the link in my Featured section to book a free sales assessment call — get a clear read on what’s working, what’s not, and your next best moves.
📧 Subscribe to my fortnightly newsletter for practical, no-fluff sales insights.
🔔 Or just connect and tap the bell to stay in the loop.

When sales becomes simple and steady, everything else in the business gets lighter. Let’s make that your new normal.

Steve Donnellan

For most of my life, I treated my body as something disposable.

A vehicle to get me from here to there.

An instrument I could batter, bruise and break without consequence.
Bones. Ligaments. Joints.

Years of motorcycle and mountain bike racing left their mark.

If it could be injured, I probably managed it.

But the real injury was never physical.

It was the disconnect.

The absence of relationship with the Divine instrument that holds more memory than the mind ever could.

For a long time, I wondered if that connection was even there.

Maybe it had never existed.

More likely, I had built so many defences that I could no longer hear it.

No one taught us how to stay connected to ourselves.

How to listen.

How to feel.

How to trust what the body remembers when the mind forgets.

Then in 2024, a mountain biking accident forced everything into the light.

A routine scan revealed coronary heart disease.

It caught my attention in a way nothing else had.

It asked me to stop.

To listen.

To return.

That moment began a deeper healing journey.

Not the dramatic kind, but the honest kind.

Breathwork. Reiki. Energy healing. EFT. Meditation. Yoga.

Each one helping me rebuild the connection I had abandoned.

What I found wasn’t just physical healing.

It was emotional truth.

A releasing of old trauma that had been tucked away in places my mind could not reach.

A softening into intuition that now shapes every part of my work.

It led me to the women I serve today.

Heart-centred wellness and holistic coaches who want to step into their power without hardening themselves.

Women who want the process of enrolling clients to feel natural, grounded and aligned with who they are.

Women who want their work to grow through clarity, not pressure.
Because enrolment is not a performance.

It is a conversation.

A moment where two people meet, explore truth together, and choose the path that feels right.

And the more I reconnect with my own body, the more clearly I can hold that space for others.

If you’re ready to bring more calm, clarity and confidence into your client enrolment conversations, send me a message. We can gently explore your next step.

#SoaringSales

Helping wellness & heart-centred coaches enrol more clients through clear, calm sales conversations | Creator of CLEAR™ + Power of Problems™ - structure on calls to help you enrol more clients without feeling salesy

Steve Donnellan, wearing black glasses and a grey North Face hoodie, sits outdoors on a bright day. He is looking directly at the camera with a gentle, relaxed expression. Behind him is a glass railing, blue sky and scattered clouds, with distant houses and greenery visible in the background.

Some families have Christmas traditions.

Ours has… a full annual Christmas tree operation.

We’ve been going to the same Christmas tree farm since 2009, and at this point, we walk in like seasoned professionals.

Breakfast at the same hotel.
Park in the same spot.
Head straight for “our” section of trees because we swear the good ones grow there.

Over the years, we’ve learned a few things.

We know the species we like.
We know how to check the strength of the branches.
We know how to spot a tree that looks great now but will shed needles faster than you can say “hoover again?”

What we cannot do is judge size.

Which is why we now bring a tape measure.
Which is also why, one year, we took home an eight-foot-tall, eight-foot-wide monster that didn’t just sit in the living room. It became the living room.

Our crew has grown since those early years. One member was MIA this time, but everyone else was there, bundled up and ready for action.

Once we get it home, everyone has their job.
Lights. Decorations. That wonky ornament that belonged to your grandmother.

Someone always disappears right when the heavy lifting starts.

It’s chaotic.

It’s fun.

It’s one of my favourite days of the year.

These tiny rituals… they matter more than we realise.

What family traditions make you smile every year?

Steve Donnellan is standing outdoors with four family members at a Christmas tree farm. They are all smiling at the camera, surrounded by rows of evergreen trees. Steve is wearing a blue knit hat and glasses. The group includes a young man in a cap and glasses, two young women in winter jackets, and a woman in a light coat with a colourful scarf. The lighting is warm and natural.

Most coaches think the problem is strategy.

But strategy only holds if you are held.

Think back to the last time a sales call wobbled.

You weren’t confused.
You weren’t unprepared.
You weren’t lacking knowledge.

Yet something in your system shifted.

Your grounding slipped.
Your presence scattered.
Your body tightened.

And suddenly the conversation felt harder than it needed to be.

And here’s the part I didn’t understand until much later.

The moments where my conversations drifted or derailed were never because I forgot the strategy.

They were the moments when I wasn’t grounded.

Unregulated.
Distracted.
Out of presence.
Pushing for an outcome instead of guiding the conversation.

That was the missing piece.

Sales conversations are not purely strategic.
They are relational.
They are energetic.
They are biological.

When I went through my own healing work, everything clicked into place.

I realised the structure had always been there.

But without grounding, structure becomes rigid.
And without structure, grounding becomes aimless.

It is the balance of the two that creates calm confidence.

As above, so below.
As within, so without.

The Hermetic principle of duality plays out beautifully in a sales conversation.

Grounding gives you presence.
Structure gives you clarity.

Together, they create a natural flow that aligns with how humans make decisions.

This is why my frameworks exist today.

Take the S.C.O.R.E. Sales Flow™ for example.

It’s not a formula.
It’s a bridge.

Between energy and clarity.
Between instinct and intention.
Between your natural strengths and the structure that helps those strengths shine.

Your best sales conversations do not happen when you try harder.

They happen when you are grounded, clear, and following a flow that feels true to who you are.

If this resonates, I’d love to hear:
Where does sales feel out of balance for you right now?

______________________

👩‍💼 You’re great at what you do, but the sales part still feels heavier than it should

🎯I help wellness and heart-centred coaches increase conversions, build confidence and sell in a way that feels natural and aligned

📩 DM me “SCORE” if you're ready to sell with confidence and win more of the right clients

#SoaringSales

A quote by Steve Donnellan - Soaring Sales Academy:
“Your presence is the energy.
Your framework is the path.
Together they create flow.”

taplio

The Battle

Ross Brown

Steve Donnellan

Followers

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Performance ScoreRoss Brown's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreSteve Donnellan's LinkedIn Performance

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taplio

The Battle

Ross Brown

Steve Donnellan

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

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);}Ross Brown's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreSteve Donnellan's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreRoss Brown's LinkedIn Performance