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The Agency Uplift Podcast: Agency Scaling Strategies & Growth Tips
Unlock proven frameworks, AI‑powered workflows, and client acquisition blueprints to scale your digital agency from freelance to Fortune. Each week, host Sean Lang, co‑founder of Social Commerce Club and agency growth coach, sits down with a wide array of agency leaders—sharing battle‑tested tactics on profitability, processes, and people management.
Whether you’re aiming to double client retention, streamline operations, or boost ad ROI, you’ll walk away with actionable insights and playbooks you can implement today. New episodes every Monday and Wednesday, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music.
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98 Episodes
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Summary: You don’t fail as an agency owner because you’re bad at marketing. You fail because you accidentally build something that can’t survive you. In this episode, I sit down with Tim Keen, who scaled a DTC growth agency to $2M+ ARR, churned every client and every employee, worked himself to the brink and still sold the business. This isn’t a highlight reel. It’s the messy middle no one warns you about. Takeaways: Why most agencies feel “busy” but are fundamentally unsellable The hidde...
Summary: I thought results were the glue. Then a wildly profitable client fired us after six straight months of 18+ ROAS. In this solo episode, I break down one of the most painful lessons of my agency career and why results alone are never enough to keep clients long-term. If you’ve ever lost a client you shouldn’t have lost, this episode will hit close to home. Take aways: Why results are just table stakes and what actually keeps clients loyal The onboarding mistake I made that quietly de...
Summary: TikTok Shop isn’t slowing down. It’s maturing. In this episode, I break down with Collin Cavanaugh why TikTok Shop is entering its most important phase yet, and why agencies that adapt now will have an unfair advantage over the next few years. This isn’t about chasing trends. It’s about building an agency that’s positioned for where the market is going. Takeaways: Why enterprise brands are finally moving into TikTok Shop What separates scalable agencies from opportunistic ones H...
Summary: 2026 doesn’t need more effort, it needs better decisions. If your agency feels bigger but somehow harder to run, this episode explains exactly why and what to do before things break. In this solo episode, I walk through the six core values he uses to run and coach agencies through complexity, burnout, and stalled growth and how to apply them immediately as you head into 2026. Takeaways: Why “doing more” is the fastest way to kill leverage and what to replace it with The weekly audi...
Summary: Most agency founders don’t fail because they’re bad at delivery. They fail because they never stop doing it. In this episode, I sit down with Anthony Morgan, Founder & CEO of Enavi, to unpack the breaking point almost every sub $1M agency hits and the counter intuitive decision that unlocked real, scalable growth. Anthony shares what happened when client churn, market pressure, and limited runway forced him to confront a hard truth: spending 10–20% of his time on growth was silen...
Summary: If your agency collapses the moment you step away or you feel like you own everyone’s job, this episode is for you. In my final solo episode of 2025, I share the single biggest unlock I’ve seen across 100+ agency owner conversations: most agencies don’t have a people system, so the founder becomes the system. This episode isn’t about hiring more people. It’s about building an agency that doesn’t need you to babysit it. Takeaways: Why founders stay stuck even after hiring a team The...
Summary: You’ve been told to “build your personal brand.” But what if that advice is exactly why your agency still blends in? In this episode, I sit down with Justin Obermann, former ad agency founder turned modern day publicist, to unpack why self publicity, not personal branding, is what actually drives attention, authority, and inbound demand. Justin built a seven figure agency using nothing but LinkedIn and word of mouth, burned out, shut it down, and accidentally uncovered a more powerf...
Summary: Most agencies don’t lose clients because performance drops. They lose clients because leadership disappears under pressure. In this solo episode, I break down one of the most expensive mistakes agency owners make: treating client calls like disposable conversations instead of strategic data assets. If you’re having 8–12 client calls per week and doing nothing with the transcripts, you’re leaking retention, upsell revenue, and team leverage. I walk you through a free, operational AI ...
Summary: Most agencies don’t fail because of bad strategy. They fail because of people problems, vague positioning, and trying to scale chaos. In this episode, I sit down with Mark Meyerson, former Director of One Egg Digital, to unpack what actually breaks agencies behind the scenes and the hard earned lessons that fixed it. Mark spent years hiring too fast, staying too broad, and underestimating how much operational drag comes from “doing everything.” The turning point? Slowing down, nichi...
Summary: Most agency owners are chasing leads. The smartest ones are engineering relationships. In this solo episode, I explain why relationships, not traffic, are the real growth constraint for agencies stuck below $3M ARR, and how a highly niched podcast became the most powerful relationship building tool I’ve ever used. This isn’t about content calendars or personal branding. It’s about creating intentional conversations that compound into clients, referrals, and opportunities years later....
Summary: Most agency owners don’t fail because they’re bad at delivery. They fail because they accidentally build a business that depends entirely on them. In this episode, I sit down with Justin Vajko, founder of Dialogue Video Marketing, to unpack how he intentionally avoided the “accidental agency” trap and built a scalable, retainer based business around video thought leadership. Justin shares the exact moment he realized one off services were sabotaging client results, why raising price...
Summary: Most agency owners don’t have a capacity problem. They have an expertise bottleneck and they’re the bottleneck. In this solo episode, I walk through the exact system I use to double or even triple the effectiveness of individual team members without hiring, micromanaging, or gambling on “hope they figure it out.” This is not about replacing your team. It’s about giving them tools that inject your expertise directly into the workflow. Takeaways: Why saying “they’re not ready y...
Summary: Most agencies think their biggest risk is not closing enough deals. In reality, it’s saying yes to the wrong ones. In this episode, I sit down with Roberto Martinez, CEO of Braven Agency, to unpack the hard earned lessons that only show up once real money, real clients, and real teams are on the line. From nearly getting crushed by government contracts to refunding clients on purpose, this conversation is a masterclass in scaling with conviction. Takeaways: Why “not every client is...
Summary: If your team keeps asking the same questions, If onboarding feels risky, If every mistake still somehow comes back to you This episode is the fix. In this solo breakdown, I walk you through the exact workflow I use to build SOPs and turn them into real training assets without hiring an ops manager or spending weeks documenting processes. Most agencies either have no SOPs or SOPs nobody actually uses. The real problem isn’t documentation, it’s training. And in this episode, I ...
Summary: Most agency owners think they need to become louder, more extroverted, and more aggressive to grow. That’s not true. In this episode, I talk with Stephanie Zhuang, founder of TIDAL Brand Management, about building a high impact agency as an introvert and why personal growth, not headcount, is the real scaling constraint. Stephanie shares the fear, self doubt, and unexpected breakthroughs that came with leaving a 15 year corporate career to build a flexible, AI powered agency designed...
Summary Most agency owners think they have a people problem. In reality, they’re firing symptoms and keeping the disease. In this solo episode, I break down the exact framework I use with my private coaching clients to diagnose underperformance before it turns into churn, burnout, or a bad firing decision. Takeaways: Why your first instinct to blame the employee is usually wrong The hidden cost of misdiagnosing team issues (and why it compounds fast) The difference between a process probl...
Summary: You don’t burn out because you lack ambition, you burn out because your agency has no structure. In this episode, I sat down with Joe Romeo, founder of Aperitif Agency and co-founder of Rocket Fuel Agency, to unpack what actually happens after you quit the “safe job,” hit early traction, and realize the agency can’t grow unless you fundamentally change how it runs. Joe didn’t scale by chasing trends or hiring fast. He scaled by slowing down, getting painfully honest about bottlenecks...
Summary: Sean Lang shares why most agencies plateau and reveals the three critical elements that allow an agency to scale without chaos or constant founder involvement: systematized accountability, strong culture, and a founder identity shift. Drawing from his eight-year journey building Social Commerce Club, Sean explains how agencies can replace luck and chaos with clarity, culture, and leadership systems that run without the founder. Takeaways: Agencies plateau when the founder becomes t...
Summary: Host Sean Lang talks with Frederic Jean-Bart, CEO of Performance Partners, about how he built an affiliate marketing agency that supports 8- and 9-figure DTC brands. Frederic explains how systems, hiring, mentorship, and disciplined client selection helped him scale intentionally and cut churn to below 10%. Takeaways: Scaling affiliate programs is about relationships, not quantity. SOPs and documentation create leverage and consistency. Strong hiring decisions shape long-term grow...
Summary: I explore how agency pricing connects directly to operations and scalability. From managing 42 clients at $2K/month to handling elite retainers at $20K/month, I reveal the hidden operational realities behind each lane to $1M and how to build the right systems for sustainable growth. Takeaways: Systemization is non-negotiable in a high-volume model. Use clear SOPs and templated communication to avoid chaos. Client experience and margins improve as retainers increase. Seniority l...
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