Hydra

Hydra is a consulting firm focused on helping agency owners from 100k to 10MM/yr streamline & accelerate growth, achieve more revenue and profit, and reduce stress by implementing a systems-first approach that unlocks growth.

This leads to higher profits, higher founder satisfaction, better employee retention, and gives founders the opportunity to sell or hold for higher, more predictable cash flow.

Co-Founder

Howl Campfires

We exist to keep the forest and the campfire experience alive. 

At Howl Campfires we love traditional campfires, and know just how much spending time around a campfire has positively shaped our lives. Due to the acceleration of climate issues and the almost guaranteed burn bans in the National Forest, we understand the opportunity to burn wood in the forest is becoming limited. 

So we set out to build a propane fire pit that gives you the best qualities of a wood fire: Actually warm, take it anywhere, but operates legally in a burn ban.

As a company Howl Campfires designs and manufactures technologies that make liquid-fuel firepits as enjoyable to use as wood-burning campfires. 

These pits enable users to have no-compromise campfires in the midst of burn bans, without jeopardizing or degrading the land.

Margle Media

I served as President & Co-Owner of Margle Media, a full-service social media advertising agency servicing DTC brands and Fortune 500 clients. Margle works with brands to improve awareness, conversion, and the bottom line by:

-Producing digital content at scale
-Deploying paid social campaigns that convert users into customers
-Configuring systems to improve customer retention & LTV growth

https://www.marglemedia.com/

President & Co-Owner

Pixsuls

We help business owners leverage a proven, results-driven social media strategy to generate more leads, add more clients and increase revenue.

We believe in helping business owners reach their full potential by optimizing their company's online presence. We do so by transitioning our clients into the world of online advertising and captivating audiences through engaging content. 

We know that a company's most powerful asset is its brand story. In a world where consumers become loyal to stories, not products, we strive to put yours at the forefront of every timeline and newsfeed. 

We help our clients develop these stories through strategic messaging and creative content that gives potential customers a reason to click, read, watch, and devote themselves to the story that represents our clients and their businesses.

Pixsuls was acquired by Margle Media in January of 2019.

Founder

West Corporation

•Presented complex data solutions to businesses and took a consultative, solution-based selling approach to fulfill customer needs
•Managed and continually educated a small group of 4-6 Account Executives to ensure they were meeting or exceeding sales quotas
•Responsible for selling high-ticket offers to new and existing clients with contract values exceeding $500,000+ of revenue

Technical Account Manager

•Sold various technology products to new and existing clients over the phone through cold calls
•Built deep customer relationships resulting in regular repeat business
•Finished each month as an Account Executive at or above 100% to quota in multiple categories, best month finishing 400% to quota
•Promoted to Technical Account Manager within two months of hire, also achieved the Rookie of the Month award for exceeding sales targets

Account Manager

Co-Founder @ Hydra | Co-Founder @ Howl Campfires | I Help Agencies & Professional Service Firms Scale Revenue & Profit

I've spent the last decade owning & operating advertising agencies, building & scaling brands, and service businesses.

A few things I'm currently focused on:

- Partnering with digital agencies and professional service businesses at Hydra, our consulting firm, to improve operational efficiency, management, growth, and profitability.

- Building HOWL Campfires, a 100% made in the USA, utility & design patented, DTC portable propane fire pit that feels just like a wood fire.

- Looking to share our methodologies for scaling service based businesses on podcasts, newsletters, 

Connect with me on:

IG: @kirchnr
Twitter: @kirchnr

Not sure if the person you've hired is the right fit? 

Learning the 9 box grid has saved me countless times on keeping the wrong teammate.

Hiring A-player talent is a delicate balance between finding a high performer and finding someone who has the potential to be an effective leader.

Here's how to use the 9 Box Grid:

➝ Place each employee inside of a box based on their potential and performance.
➝ Read the definitions of each box below and see who needs a PIP. (performance improvement plan)
➝ Repeat quarterly.

❌ Bad Hires

➝ These are people that need to be exited from the company immediately. ➝They lack the skills to perform at a high level and don't show the want to gain the skillset needed to become an asset to the team.

🐢Up or Out Dilemmas

➝These are teammates that show a good amount of potential, but struggle with their performance and struggle hitting KPIs. 
➝They have a willingness to learn and need to be put on a performance improvement plan.

🧠Dysfunctional Genius

➝This teammate has a ton of potential. 
➝They are extremely talented but lack organization and their lack of organization makes their performance inconsistent or they are not performing at their highest potential. 
➝These teammates should also get a performance improvement plan to keep establish more consistency.

🚨Up or Out Grinders

➝These teammates are lower on potential and need a lot of accountability. 
➝They are willing to get the work done, but don't show drive or initiative to learn new skills and grow in their position. 
➝But their performance isn't good enough for you to stick with them for their lack of potential. 
➝These teammates need a PIP around self development and creating self accountability.

💯Core Players

➝These players are a solid teammates and often the day to day laborers. 
➝They are accountable and deliver on regular KPIs. 
➝This group needs coaching to move up and to the right on the 9 box grid, but they don't need a PIP.

👍High Potentials

➝This group have a ton of potential but their performance isn't anything exceeding expectations. 
➝However through some coaching they will easily become starts on the team and have a lot of upwards mobility in the organization.

🏇Work Horses

➝These are our GSD (get stuff done) crew. 
➝Late nights and early mornings and are effective through brute force. 
➝A performance improvement plan might be essential for these people to save them from burnout and must be taught to work smarter, not harder.

🥇High Performers 

➝Performance is top notch, but coaching will be essential for them to live up to their highest potential. 
➝They are always willing to do the work, but might lack a few key skill components to make them one of your best employees.

⭐Stars

➝Hire them and let them take the reigns. 
➝They are just as effective in their position as you would be and surpass expectations on all levels.

🔖 Save for your next performance reviews!

Nicholas Kirchner

Co-Founder @ Hydra | Co-Founder @ Howl Campfires | I Help Digital Agencies Scale Revenue & Improve Profitability

If you want more clients, become your own client first. 

Agencies thrive at helping their clients businesses grow, but struggle with their own...

DataBox did a study and found only 10.5% of agencies are satisfied with their marketing efforts.

If you're in the remaining 89.5%, it's time for a shift.

Enter the concept of becoming your own client.

This means allocating the same level of creativity, resources, and dedication to your agency's growth as you would for a client.

Whether you're crafting content for e-commerce brands, running email/SMS campaigns, optimizing SEO, or running ads, the principle is the same:

Your agency deserves just as much attention as any other client on your roster.

→With a strategy
→With a team assigned to it
→With deadlines
→With goals & KPI's

Now the key to winning with this is these 2 things:

→ Consistency
→ Accountability

Without these two, it might last a month or two as a goal on your team - but you need someone to be the champion internally to drive this objective.

If you can truly get this done, you've just changed your agency from an external service provider to its most important client.

The lesson?

Your future starts with turning the mirror inward.

If you found this valuable feel free to reshare ♻️

Co-Founder @ Hydra | Co-Founder @ Howl Campfires | I Help Agency Founders Make More & Work Less

"Just send me a proposal"

Ever heard this on a sales call?

"Yay! Someone wants to buy from me" you think.

Only to send it over...
...and crickets.

"I thought they wanted to buy my stuff?"

→You're frustrated.
→You're annoyed.
→You worked so hard on the deck.

That's why I'll never send a proposal off of a call.

Here's why:

→I can provide context and speak to the value in relation to their specific challenges
→I can ask questions, and they can ask them directly as they arise
→I can see their reactions and address objections
→I can ask for the sale right after reviewing
→I can show them how my offering is the bridge from where they are, to where they want to go.
→ It doesn't let them skip right to the price slide...

So the next time the prospect asks you to "just send them some info or a proposal"

Stand your ground and let them know you don't do that, and lead with:

"But I'd be happy to put something together and review on another 

meeting. When would work for you this week?"

Easy fix, big results.

Have you ever had a prospect do this to you?

Starting over from zero sucks.

We've worked with over 100+ founders and there comes a point of success where they get bored and want to do something new...

I know I've felt the ol' shiny object syndrome before. 

Happens to every entrepreneur at some point. 

Here's a sobering reminder: 

➝ It's much easier to take your existing business from 2M per year to 5, 10,15M per year than it is to start a new business and scale it up to that same revenue.

This is where compound effort comes in. 

➝ If you always are starting a new businesses, you have to start from 0.
➝ If you always are launching a new funnel for your marketing, you have to start from 0.
➝ Instead of honing one sales pitch, you're constantly starting over, starting from zero reps.
➝ Instead of improving one product, you think your next product will be the x factor, once again starting from zero.

You might notice a trend, and there's a key problem that comes with it.

You can't compound 0.

But you can compound tiny gains over time that lead to tremendous results.
If you apply compound effort...

➝ You keep building onto your existing company, and let the infrastructure and leverage you've built work FOR you instead of brute forcing.
➝ You hone ONE marketing funnel until its absolutely lethal and prints customers on demand.
➝ You relentlessly improve one product until people absolutely rave about it and customers do your marketing for you.

The lesson?

Massive gains are found by improving what you've got, not tearing everything up and starting new.

Compound interest makes investors rich, compounding effort makes entrepreneurs rich.

All we're looking for is those 1% improvements each day that make our companies better. 

Same principle, different context.

You don't need "new". 

You need better. 

One of the biggest things I see in my firm is the clients who spin their wheels the most are the ones always CHANGING something fundamental...

...And the ones who win at a top 1% level are just refining and continuing to execute the same things. 

You probably don’t need a new:

→ Offer/Service/Product/Business
→ Landing Page
→ Customer Acquisition Channel
→ Customer Avatar
→ Teammate

What you might need instead: 

→ One clear vision & direction
→ Doing more of the same thing
→ Patience
→ Discipline
→ Consistency
→ Stillness

At one point you made a plan you believed in. 

Then it was abandoned it the moment you: 

→ Listened to another podcast
→ Consumed another piece of content
→ Listened to someone without context of your business
→ Got bored with your success

Understand if you’re always changing something: 

→ There’s no clear data on what’s actually working
→ There hasn’t been enough reps of anything to determine if it’s worthwhile
→ You’re acting solely on gut and not strategy
→ You're starting from 0 every time. 

The most successful founders I work with set a direction and stick to the plan until it works and let that result COMPOUND.

When it finally works, they don't hit the hard reset button or let shiny object syndrome get the best of them. 

Are there small iterations along the way? 

Absolutely. 

But massive pivots or essentially a new company each month? 

Absolutely not. 

The best entrepreneurs STAY the COURSE until the direction is successful, and only pivot once all adjustment options are exhausted. 

→It's gonna feel really boring. 
→It's not gonna feel exciting all the time. 
→And that's okay. 

Consistency on what's working and doing what you're already doing, just BETTER, will often have better returns on time/effort.

Referrals sound boring.

But they're incredible at printing high-quality clients.

Here’s how to set up your own referral network for your agency:

You see, most people in key positions at brands/companies know other key players at other brands/companies. Ex. a CMO knows other CMOs.

Also, making an extra $2-5k/mo. can mean a lot for that individual when they're paid for making a referral.

Step 1: Identify Who’s In Your Network

Who do you know that’s influential/connected to your target market?
↳ Other Agencies
↳ Decision Makers At Other Brands (my personal favorite)
↳ Freelancers who work for brands/businesses

Step 2: Identify who they have access to

↳ See if there’s any business in particular you want an introduction to they are connected with
↳ Ask them for help identifying who might be a good fit based on what and who they know

Step 3: Negotiate the deal

↳ Typically 10-15% of the first months contract with a smaller recurring % each month is very intriguing. It’s like passive income just for sending an introduction.
↳ Get an agreement drafted outlining the terms of the deal and what’s required of both parties.
↳ They now essentially become a contract based sales position for you.

Rinse and repeat.

The end goal is in essence a contract sales team of 15-20 people hunting for new business for you throughout their networks.

Have you tried this referral strategy?

Working with boring businesses > flashy brands

If I were to ever start an advertising firm again, I'd go into the most boring niches I could find.

Here's why 👇

Don't get me wrong, the other brands logos and work might look "cooler" in your portfolio, but I'd prefer consistency & higher margins instead. 

While most focus on:

➝ SaaS
➝ DTC eCom
➝ Enterprise

I'd go into:

➝ Manufacturing Businesses
➝ Plumbing Companies
➝ HVAC Businesses
➝ Mid-Market Businesses 

Why?

Because of a few things:

➝ Their model is proven - I'm not trying to validate an offer or find product market fit, meaning I can find them ideal customers more easily and know what the core pain points of the market are.
➝ They have high customer LTV's - often times these are longer term agreements or have a high amount of repeat business.
➝ They are behind the curve when it comes to marketing. I find these companies trend 5-7 years behind in terms of their customer acquisition strategies and there's arbitrage here. 
➝ They're willing to pay higher price points based on my experience for far less service delivery. 
➝ They have lesser expectations to "wow" them vs. a brand who expects scope creep to become normal monthly work without paying more. 
➝ They are stickier clients overall. Boring businesses are typically more resilient, have strong margins, and aren't fighting in their ad accounts weekly to keep the business alive. 

This means these markets are ripe for someone to come in, provide real results, and get paid handsomely for it.

Maybe someday we'll do this? 🤔

But for now - tunnel vision on our targets, but someone else should run with this.

What are some other boring businesses niches you know of or have run campaigns for?

This one mistake is a silent "agency killer."

The problem is, for most, it goes unnoticed until it's too late.

Client concentration.

What does that even mean?

➝ Too much of your overall revenue is being generated by too few clients in comparison to the size of your client roster. 
➝ For example, you might have 10 clients, but one client makes up 40% of your revenue.

Quick backstory:

➝ I had a Fortune 500 client at my last agency that represented 50+% of our revenue. 
➝ It was exciting but a huge vulnerability to have early on. 
➝ That client ended up leaving, and we had to cut costs aggressively across the board to survive.

So what's the ideal?

➝ Ensure one client never makes up more than 20-25% of your revenue, so if they leave, you have a fair shot at replacing the revenue.

So how do you fix it?

➝ I'd rather have 20 clients who pay $10k/month vs. 7 clients with 2 of them paying $50k/month. 
➝ It's much easier to replace 5% of your revenue than it is to replace 50% of your revenue. 
➝ You close more clients closer to the retainer value of your largest client, or get enough small ones that if the big one leaves, it doesn't hurt as badly. ➝ Additionally, if you ever want to exit your agency, client concentration will work against you as it's risky for your buyer.

Avoiding this would've made my journey a lot easier 😅

Have you ever dealt with this?

“I feel like I’m just spinning my wheels” 

I hear this from founders far too often.

Hint: It boils down to 2 primary issues. 

Here’s how I go about taking their revenue from flat to hockey stick. 

→ Get them tracking core KPI’s. 
→ If they’re tracking them, get them looking at it regularly. 
→ Revenue
→ EBITDA
→ Customer Acquisition Cost
→ Customer Lifetime Value 
→ New Opportunities Monthly 
→ Monthly Revenue Churn Rate

Just by looking at these numbers, I can identify it’s one or both of these:

→ We’re not taking generating enough opportunities and taking enough sales calls to have a chance at closing deals
→ There’s a churn problem that we can’t close enough deals to outpace it and we need to fix service delivery. 

There’s other nuances and numbers I’ll look at, but if we’ve got one of the two issues above, that’s where our constraint lies. We cannot grow with these being an issue. 

So let’s fix them. 

Here's the simplest logic to fix customer acquisition: 

→ If we’re not generating enough opportunities, I’m concerned with picking one channel we can really commit to and build on. If that’s LinkedIn, cool. If it’s cold email, cool. If its ads, cool. 
→ We just need to pick one and really crack it. 
→ That takes iterating on it relentlessly till it works. Usually when someone has a CA issue they haven’t done the quantity of reps needed to succeed or they’re always chasing the new, shiny object on lead gen. 
→ Reps and sets. Zero substitutes for volume. 

If my lifetime value is suffering...

→ What part of our service delivery is broken? Usually you’ll know this but may have been ignoring it. 
→ Do we need to make our process for getting results stronger? Who can help us solve this who has more expertise? 
→ Maybe your onboarding process is fragmented and confusing.
→ Maybe you’re not aligning expectations with the results they’re likely to see because you’ll say anything to close the deal
→ Maybe you’re not communicating enough with your clients and they’re left wondering where projects are at. 
→ Maybe we don’t know why people are unsatisfied, and we need to start sending NPS surveys and understand where the fall off is. 
→ What else can I sell my customers they will keep buying? 

If you can fix both of these problems in your business…

→ It will grow. 
→ Even if everything else isn’t perfect. 
→ Fixing these will set your business free. 

Want help fixing these constraints? See my pinned comment below.

“I would love to work with you, I just can’t afford it.” 

I’ve heard this countless times on our discovery calls. 

It’s unfortunate, because I really do want to help as many agency owners as possible. 

And I’ll be the first to say 1-1 advisory is too expensive for some to give each client the time and attention they deserve. 

But what if there was a way we could share what we’re doing to help over 100+ agencies for a fraction of the investment? 

Now there is. 

→That’s why we’re launching the Agency Therapy Community. 
→A private Slack community designed to help you land clients consistently, deliver exceptional results, and build the infrastructure you need for a fast growing, profitable agency. 
→Not only do you get access to the community with all of our consulting team to answer any questions you have, you also get our Agency Therapy Curriculum where we cover: 

→ Lead Generation → so you’ll never struggle to find leads for your agency again. 
→ Positioning → so you can charge what you’re worth and be the market leader in your niche. 
→ Sales → so you can close more of the leads you’re already getting. 
→ Operations → so you can deliver an incredible client experience and maintain healthy profit margins. 

Plus you get 2 weekly calls…

Our Friday Q&A calls - so whether you're having client acquisition problems, or fulfillment, or operational bottlenecks, we are here to help you get to the next level. 

A dedicated call each week to sharpen your sales skills so you can close new clients effortlessly and easily break through your revenue plateaus. 

The best part? 

→ It’s absolutely free for 14 days,
→ Meaning no matter where you’re at right now…
→ You can get access to some of the best minds in agency growth. 

So if you want to get access to a community of 6, 7, and 8-figure Agency Owners across dozens of different industries...

→ As well as TWO weekly coaching calls from the world's best minds in agency growth to help you exponentially scale…

So if you’re ready to go to the next level → check the link pinned in the comments.

Our sales team closes at 39% month-over-month.

The common denominator? 

They all use Closer Call Sheets.

And I'm giving you our exact closer call sheet to you today for free. 

This sheet will help you:

➝ Create a consistent framework for closing high value prospects.
➝ Prompts you to gather the right information so you have appropriate objection prevention & defense.
➝ Ensures that you build a large enough gap between where your prospect is right now and where they want to go. 
➝ And lets you quantify the opportunity cost of them not working with you

We normally only give this away in our private consulting engagements. 

But all you need to do is like this post and comment “CLOSE”. 

And I'll have it in your inbox shortly. 

**Must be connected so I can send you a copy without InMail.

This one accounting mistake could be costing your agency $100,000s of dollars. 

And it might be sneaking up on you…

→ Cash accounting. 

I'll be the first to say...

This ain’t a sexy topic, but it’s critical to get right. 

Understanding the difference between cash and accrual accounting is crucial for accurate financial reporting and valuation. 

Here's my 🥩 with cash accounting:

Cash Accounting records revenues and expenses only when cash is received or paid.

This means:

→ Revenues are recorded when the cash is received from clients.
→ Expenses are recorded when the cash is paid out for operational costs.
Which...
→ Makes it easier to maintain as it tracks actual cash flow.
→ Provides a clear view of cash on hand, which is useful for day-to-day operations.

BUT...

→It does not account for revenues earned but not yet received, or expenses incurred but not yet paid.
→It may show fluctuating financial results that do not accurately reflect the agency's performance over time.
Here's why coming to Accrual Accounting is the move 👇
→ Accrual accounting records revenues and expenses when they are earned or incurred, REGARDLESS of when the cash transaction happens.
→ Revenues are recorded when the service is provided, even if the cash is received later.
→ Expenses are recorded when they are incurred, even if the cash is paid out later.

Which means...

→ It provides a more accurate reflection of your agency’s financial health and performance over time.
→ It aligns revenues with the corresponding expenses, improving the understanding of profitability.
→ It offers better insights for strategic planning and performance evaluation.

So how can it cost you $100,000s?

Let's say you want to sell your agency someday...

→ Cash accounting can significantly distort the agency's value because it does not account for receivables (work done but not yet paid for) and can cause significant fluctuations in the P&L statement.
→ Investors/buyers prefer accrual accounting as it provides a more accurate and consistent picture of the company's financial health, making it easier to assess future profitability and cash flows.

It's seeing agencies make mistakes like these that made us launch our own bookkeeping service for agencies. 

→ We know how important having clear financials is to making decisions.
→ We understand how the financials need to look.
→ We know agencies inside and out.

Want to see more on how we can help keep your financials in order and know how to make decisions from them?

DM me the word "Books" and I'll help get you sorted!

“I don’t know those numbers” 

I can’t tell you how often I meet with founders who aren’t clear on how their agency finances function...

This leads to losing money each month and not knowing where the bleed is happening. 

Scary 😬

Here's the 6 most common financial errors you might be making and how it’s costing you profit. 

➝ Study the 3 core financial statements each month. 

Don’t have them? Herein lies the issue…

The income statement, cash flow statement, and balance sheet offer a full picture of your financial health and you should know exactly where your company is at each month. 

➝ Books should be maintained monthly. 

You should be reviewing this each and every month, not once a quarter.

➝ Move To Accrual Accounting. 

Understanding your accounting method is crucial for accurate financial reporting, and as an agency, this is where you’ll likely want to be. 

➝ Bookkeeping Isn’t A High Leverage Task For Founders 

Bookkeepers know the ins and outs, and their expertise is worth their weight in gold. Additionally, this is NOT a high leverage item for you as a founder. 

➝ Keep your CPA focused on tax, not bookkeeping. 

Paying CPA rates for bookkeeping is just silly. CPA’s are for taxes, not daily accounting work.

➝ Don’t settle for getting your books 3 weeks into the following month. 
I see this with some firms and it’s incredibly frustrating. 

How can you make strategic decisions based on your numbers when you don’t even have them? 

Need a bookkeeping & fractional CFO solution from someone who knows agencies and actually can help you grow through understanding your numbers? 

DM “grow” and I’ll get you sorted!

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