The Agency Profit Podcast

Episodi

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  Why Downloads Don't Matter in B2B Podcasting, with Dr. Jeremy Weisz 23.09.2026 40min

  About this Episode In this episode of the Agency Profit Podcast, Carson Pierce is joined by Dr. Jeremy Weisz, longtime podcaster and co-founder of Rise25, to explore how agencies can use podcasting as a relationship-building and business development tool rather than simply chasing downloads and subscribers. Drawing from nearly two decades of podcasting experience, Jeremy explains why the real value of a B2B podcast comes from intentionally connecting with potential clients, referral partners, strategic partners, and industry leaders while creating something valuable for them in return. Together, Carson and Jeremy unpack how to choose the right guests, build social proof, create conversations people are proud to share, and turn interviews into opportunities for learning and stronger relationships. From Jeremy’s Dream 200 approach to his five-step framework for generating ROI from a podcast, this episode offers agency leaders a practical way to rethink podcasting as a system for building meaningful relationships that can support long-term business growth.
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  What AI is actually doing to your margins and what to do about it, With Marcel Petitpas 09.09.2026 46min

  About this Episode In this episode of the Agency Profit Podcast, Kristen Kelly is joined by Marcel Petitpas and Carson Pierce to explore what the future of agencies looks like in the age of AI and why the line between service businesses and SaaS companies is quickly disappearing. Drawing from Marcel’s experience building a technology-enabled service business, working alongside SaaS companies, and incubating AI-first startups, the team breaks down why agencies may have a bigger advantage than they realize if they can pair their hard-earned expertise with technology. Together, they unpack Marcel’s “four MVPs” framework: minimum viable problem, point of view, process, and product, and explore how agencies can use the value equation to deliver better outcomes faster, more efficiently, and with less friction for clients. From moving beyond time-and-materials pricing and avoiding costly product side quests to embracing AI, sharpening specialization, and building more flexible business models, this episode offers a practical framework for turning years of agency experience into a competitive advantage and building a more valuable, resilient agency for the future.
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  Why Chasing Growth Can Wreck Your Agency's Profitability, with Eric Brown 26.08.2026 47min

  About this Episode In this episode of the Agency Profit Podcast, Carson Pierce is joined by agency growth consultant Eric Brown, co-founder of Blood, Sweat & Tears, to explore one of the most overlooked levers in agency growth: treating new business as a real, repeatable function rather than something left to chance. Drawing from over 20 years advising agencies on growth, Eric breaks down the first principles of building a scalable pipeline, starting with strategy, positioning, and messaging before any tactics are chosen. Together, he and Carson unpack why most pipeline problems stem not from a lack of effort, but from founders never having built growth as a true discipline within their agency. From his four-pillar framework to his diagnostic-first Vitals assessment and his reframing of growth around enterprise value, this episode offers a practical framework for building a healthier, more predictable agency, by fixing the strategy before chasing the numbers.
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  From Time Tracking to Time Intelligence, With Elizabeth Thorn 12.08.2026 35min

  About this Episode In this episode of the Agency Profit Podcast, Carson Pierce is joined by Elizabeth Thorn, Head of Marketing at Toggl, to explore how agencies can move beyond basic time tracking and use better operational data to make smarter business decisions. Drawing from her experience running an SEO and digital marketing agency, Elizabeth explains how accurate time data can help agency leaders uncover profit leakage, improve project estimates, manage team capacity, and identify burnout before it affects performance. Together, Carson and Elizabeth discuss the difference between being busy and being profitable, the hidden cost of context switching, the importance of setting realistic utilization targets, and why agencies can build accountability without relying on employee surveillance. The conversation offers practical insights into using historical time data to improve forecasting, resource planning, profitability, and long-term agency performance.
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  Owner's Clarity and the Four Constraints, With Mike Grinberg 29.07.2026 41min

  About this Episode In this episode of the Agency Profit Podcast, Kristen Kelly is joined by Mike Grinberg, founder and principal consultant of Proofpoint Marketing, to dig into what he calls "owner's clarity," the personal groundwork that has to happen before positioning or growth strategy even makes sense. Drawing on his own experience rebuilding his first agency and years of client work since, Mike breaks down the four constraints of purpose, identity, intent, and capacity that determine whether a founder led firm actually supports the person running it. Together, he and Kristen unpack why founders can hit strong margins and still feel miserable, how two very different types of burnout show up in a business, and why exit planning should start on day one, not the year before a sale. This episode offers agency owners a practical lens for spotting the gap between a business that looks good on paper and one that's actually built around what they need.
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  Pass-Through Revenue: The Money That Was Never Yours, With Carson and Kristen 15.07.2026 31min

  About this Episode In this episode of the Agency Profit Podcast, Kristen Kelly is joined by fellow Managing Director Carson Pierce to unpack one of the most misunderstood line items on an agency's books: pass-through costs. Drawing from real client cases they've each worked on recently, Kristen and Carson break down the first principles of Agency Gross Income (AGI), the number you get when you strip out money that was never really yours to keep, like media spend, event costs, and certain contractor fees. Together, they walk through cautionary tales of agencies that looked far bigger and more profitable than they actually were, from a "$10 million" events agency that was really a $2 million business to a founder who mistook off-the-books media dollars for cash on hand. From a clear decision tree for classifying contractors to practical tips for making pass-through visible on your P&L, this episode offers a grounded framework for understanding your agency's true size, so you can price, staff, and spend with a much clearer picture of what's actually yours.
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  Profitability Is an Operations Problem, with Sarah Still 01.07.2026 42min

  About this Episode In this episode of the Agency Profit Podcast, Marcel is joined by Sarah Still, Partner and COO at RAYNE IX, to explore why building a healthier, more valuable agency starts with operationalized leadership. Drawing from her background in accounting, finance, and agency operations, Sarah shares what she learned helping scale a marketing agency to nearly $10 million and 60–70 team members, and how that experience now shapes her work with women building valuable agencies. Together, she and Marcel unpack why culture is not something founders simply “create,” but the result of clearly defined values, expectations, and behaviors being consistently protected and enforced. From pricing assumptions and unreliable time tracking to the complex relationship between finance and operations, this episode offers a practical lens for agency leaders who want more clarity, stronger accountability, healthier teams, and better profitability without relying on burnout as the business model.
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  We Take Care of the Money: Parakeeto's New Positioning, Explained, With Kristen Kelly & Carson Pierce 17.06.2026 28min

  About this Episode In this episode of the Agency Profit Podcast, Carson Pierce and Kristen Kelly step in for Marcel Petitpas to pull back the curtain on a major evolution happening at Parakeeto. The conversation explores why the company is moving away from profitability-focused messaging and toward a clearer promise: helping agency owners by taking care of the money. Carson and Kristen unpack the challenges of category creation, the confusion many agency owners face around financial management, and the importance of combining financial expertise with operational insight. They also discuss Parakeeto's expanded bookkeeping and accounting services, the role of financial stewardship, and why confidence—not just profitability—is often what agency owners are really seeking. Listeners will gain valuable insights into agency finance, leadership decision-making, and the systems needed to create greater clarity, visibility, and peace of mind as agencies grow.
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  Shifting From Operator to Owner, With Jason Swenk 04.06.2026 41min

  About this Episode In this episode of the Agency Profit Podcast, Carson Pierce sits down with agency entrepreneur, author, and coach Jason Swenk to explore one of the biggest challenges agency owners face: evolving from being the operator in the business to becoming a true owner. Drawing from his experience building and selling a 100-person agency and coaching thousands of agency leaders, Jason breaks down the five identity shifts that founders must navigate as they grow—from Operator and Manager to Architect, CEO, and ultimately Owner. Together, Carson and Jason unpack why so many agency owners get stuck working long hours despite having a team, how to build systems that reduce founder dependency, and what it really takes to create a business that delivers both freedom and fulfillment. Whether you're overwhelmed by day-to-day delivery, struggling to delegate, or trying to build a more scalable agency, this episode provides a practical roadmap for designing a business that serves your life instead of consuming it.
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  Cash Flow & The Future of AI, With Colin Hewitt 20.05.2026 35min

  About this Episode Cash flow is the quiet metric that decides whether an agency endures the hard quarters. Colin Hewitt founded Float after running an agency himself and recognizing that spreadsheets aged the moment they were finished — finances had become a bottleneck instead of a tool for decisions. In this conversation, you'll understand the difference between precision and accuracy in a cash forecast, why the most useful forecasts are kept current as a team activity rather than a finance silo, and how AI is shifting both the work agencies sell and the way owners run their businesses. A grounded look at the cash discipline that makes the rest of the agency model possible.
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  Inside a Boutique Agency Holdco, With Sei-Wook Kim 06.05.2026 37min

  About this Episode Most agency owners think about growth as winning more clients or hiring more people. This episode offers a different frame. Sei-Wook Kim, co-founder and Vice Chairman at Barrel Holdings, has spent years building a portfolio of independently operated, specialized agencies and the operating principles behind that work are just as relevant for owners who have no plans to acquire. You'll understand what makes an agency genuinely durable, how to read the true health of a business beneath its reported financials, and why the fundamentals — specialization, recurring revenue, strong leadership — matter whether you're buying or building. A grounded look at what sustainable agency growth actually requires.
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  Profitability Sequencing: How Agencies Maximize Margins, With Kristen Kelly 22.04.2026 37min

  About this Episode In this episode of the Agency Profit Podcast, Marcel Petitpas is joined by Kristen Kelly to unpack one of the most common—and costly—mistakes agencies make when trying to improve profitability: doing the right things in the wrong order. Drawing on real client examples, they introduce a clear framework for sequencing profitability efforts—starting with building a model of the business, then forecasting, and only then layering in data and reporting. Together, they explain why dashboards and time tracking alone don’t create insight, how the “expectations vs. reality” formula drives better decisions, and why many agencies are unknowingly executing against flawed plans. This episode offers a practical, step-by-step approach to cutting through complexity, aligning teams, and focusing on the highest-impact levers to improve margins and make smarter operational decisions.
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  Growing Through M&A in the Age of AI, With Peter Lang 08.04.2026 46min

  About this Episode In this episode of the Agency Profit Podcast, Marcel sits down with entrepreneur and acquisition expert Peter Lang to unpack why mergers and acquisitions may be one of the most underused growth paths for agency owners. Drawing on his experience completing 21 transactions and helping other founders do the same, Peter explains why buying a business can often be faster and less risky than building equivalent cash flow from scratch—if you know how to approach diligence, structure, and integration. Together, he and Marcel explore the fears that keep founders from pursuing acquisitions, the importance of evaluating culture alongside financials, and why the combination of the Great Wealth Transfer and AI-driven market disruption is creating a massive window of opportunity for buyers. For agency owners curious about growth beyond organic sales, this episode offers a practical and thought-provoking look at how acquisition can become a powerful next step.
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  Implications of Agency Founder Bottlenecks and How to Fix Them, With Kristen Kelly 25.03.2026 30min

  About this Episode In this episode of the Agency Profit Podcast, Marcel Petitpas is joined by Kristen Kelly for a reflective conversation about a major shift in how Parakeeto thinks about profitability and why it matters. Rather than treating profit as the end goal, Marcel unpacks why it is really the thing that enables agency owners to do what they actually care about: build a healthy team, do meaningful work, create stability, and make a bigger impact through their business. Together, they explore the emotional and operational reasons money becomes such a source of friction in agencies, why no single role truly owns profitability, and how founders can feel more empowered, fearless, and free when the financial side of the business is finally handled well. This episode offers a thoughtful reframe for agency leaders who want to stop obsessing over profit for its own sake and start using it as a tool to build the kind of business and life they actually want.
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  How to Build an Anti-Fragile Agency, With Brent Weaver 11.03.2026 41min

  About this Episode In this episode of the Agency Profit Podcast, Marcel sits down with Brent Weaver, founder of UGURUS and now CEO of E2M Solutions, to unpack a timely idea for agency owners staring down constant disruption, how to build a business that gets stronger when things change. Brent shares his journey from selling UGURUS to stepping into the CEO seat at one of the world’s largest white-label agency partners, then breaks down “anti-fragility” in plain terms, reducing single points of failure, protecting margin, and making smart bets on what never stops mattering to clients: speed, cost, and quality (plus certainty). They also get tactical on AI, why most teams chase shiny tools instead of solving real constraints, and how “AI audits” can reveal where automation will actually move the needle, from sales and proposals to onboarding and client reporting. If you want a practical lens for deciding where to invest next, and how to stay in the game long enough to win, this conversation delivers a grounded roadmap.
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  Where CFO Meets COO: Parakeeto's Unique Approach to Profitability, With Carson Pierce 25.02.2026 40min

  About this Episode In this episode of the Agency Profit Podcast, Marcel Petitpas is joined by Parakeeto's consultant Carson Pierce for a candid, behind-the-scenes conversation about one deceptively simple question: what does Parakeeto actually do? Sparked by public feedback on LinkedIn, Marcel and Carson unpack Parakeeto’s evolving positioning as the world’s first profit management firm—and why it doesn’t neatly fit into traditional fractional CFO or COO categories. Together, they explore why agency profitability is fundamentally an operational problem, how finance and delivery must work hand-in-hand, and why founders are tired of stitching together disconnected experts. The episode walks through Parakeeto’s two-step approach (assessment → ongoing profit management), clarifies what clients actually receive, and explains how forecasting, focus, and execution—not just better reporting—drive real results. If you’ve ever wondered what’s “inside the box” of profit management, this episode delivers clarity, context, and a practical mental model for solving profitability the right way.
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  How to be Profitable at Any Size, With Drew McLellan 11.02.2026 38min

  About this Episode In this episode of the Agency Profit Podcast, Marcel Petitpas is joined by Drew McLellan, founder of Agency Management Institute, to unpack what profitability really looks like at different stages of agency growth. Drawing on decades of experience and financial data from more than 250 agencies, Drew explains why every agency can be profitable—regardless of size—and why many owners mistakenly believe their stage makes profitability impossible. Together, they explore common growth “breaking points,” the tradeoffs between lifestyle businesses and scalable firms, and why running an agency by the numbers is non-negotiable. From the realities of hiring, specialization, and management layers to how AI is reshaping what agencies should actually charge for, this conversation gives agency owners a grounded, experience-driven roadmap for building a more resilient, profitable business—without chasing hype or false benchmarks.
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  PM/AM Time in Pricing, With Carson Pierce 28.01.2026 36min

  About this Episode In this episode of the Agency Profit Podcast, Marcel Petitpas is joined by Carson Pierce to unpack one of the most persistent and misunderstood profit leaks in agencies: how account and project management time is priced (or not priced) into client work. Drawing on years of operational experience, they challenge the outdated belief that clients won’t pay for PM and AM effort and argue that the real issue is usually agency-side insecurity and weak pricing models. The conversation explores why PM and AM work is inherently difficult to track, how excluding it distorts metrics like average billable rate and utilization, and why many agencies unknowingly erode margins by treating these roles as overhead. Marcel and Carson break down two viable approaches to pricing PM and AM time—directly through scope or indirectly through margin targets—and explain when each makes sense based on the nature of the work. The episode closes with practical guidance on role design, delivery overhead vs. true overhead, and how agencies can structure pricing to protect profitability without creating unnecessary client friction.
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  Building ADHD-Friendly SOPs for Scalable Growth, With Skye Waterson 14.01.2026 33min

  About this Episode In this episode of the Agency Profit Podcast, Marcel is joined by Skye Waterson, founder of Unconventional Organisation, to explore one of the most frustrating “invisible” problems inside growing agencies: SOPs that get created, filed away, and never used. Drawing from her research background and years of coaching founders with ADHD, Skye breaks down why traditional documentation tends to fail—static, text-heavy processes that drift out of sync with real work and leave the CEO as the fallback for every question. Together, she and Marcel unpack a more practical alternative: visually mapping the business end-to-end, assigning a single DRI to each node, color-coding process health (red/orange/green), and linking every step directly to the SOP so it becomes easy to find and improve. From weekly cadence reviews alongside metrics to using AI to bootstrap checklists and delegation, this episode offers a grounded framework for turning documentation into something that actually drives clarity, stronger delegation, and a business that runs with less founder friction.
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  How to Improve Handoffs from Sales to Delivery, With Kristen Kelly 31.12.2025 34min

  About this Episode In this episode of the Agency Profit Podcast, Marcel is joined once again by Kristen Kelly to unpack one of the most persistent friction points inside service businesses: the handoff between sales and delivery. Drawing on her experience working with agencies of all sizes, Kristen breaks down the all too familiar pattern of projects kicking off with a signed contract but no real context, delivery teams guessing at what was promised, and loosely defined scopes that quietly erode margins. She and Marcel explore how misaligned incentives, weak scoping and pricing frameworks, and inconsistent data structures across tools turn every new project into a game of telephone for clients and a source of internal tension between sales, account management, and project teams. From practical fixes like sharing recorded sales calls and involving account managers in late stage sales conversations, to more structural shifts like separating price from scope and using reporting as a forcing function for better alignment, this episode gives agency leaders a clear roadmap to tighten handoffs, improve the client experience, and protect profitability.