Agency Bytes

Featuring: George Rivera In episode 171, I sit down with George Rivera, a 31-year direct response and e-commerce veteran who now helps cash-rich, time-poor founders escape what he calls the founder prison. George shares the deathbed advice from his father that became his wake-up call, and the three years it took him to redesign a business that ran entirely through him. We dig into his freedom audit, the $10K per hour filter, and his time liberation trifecta of eliminating, automating, and delegating. We also talk about the 18 summers reality, why founders unknowingly become the bottleneck, and what to do when it feels like there is nobody to delegate to. Agency owners will walk away with a clear process for auditing where their time goes and a better way to delegate outcomes instead of tasks. George also explains why stepping back in after you hand something off quietly undermines your team, and why the businesses we build should give us more time with the people who matter most. Key Bytes • You can always make more money, but you can never redo a childhood. • Cash rich means successful on paper; time poor means your family gets the leftovers. • A successful business can still be poorly designed if every decision runs through you. • Put a dollar value on your hour, and the tasks you should stop doing become obvious. • Delegate outcomes, not tasks, and show people what done looks like. • Saying you have nobody to delegate to is the clearest sign you need the audit. • Assign it and get out of the way, because jumping back in tells your team you don't trust them. • You are either scaling freedom or scaling chaos. Chapters 00:00 Welcome and George's story 02:05 The deathbed advice that changed everything 04:09 Hitting the breaking point: exit or burn it down 05:46 The freedom audit and the $10K per hour filter 10:53 The 18 summers reality 12:48 Why founders unknowingly become the bottleneck 15:16 What to do when you have nobody to delegate to 17:34 Delegating outcomes with Loom, AI, and living SOPs 22:09 When the founder would rather stay in the craft 24:08 Rapid fire: morning routines, old beliefs, and scaling freedom George Rivera is a founder, operator, and father who has spent 31+ years in direct response, ecommerce, and online sales, generating over $400M and building a company past $200M. After realizing success was quietly costing too much at home, his father’s words, “Don’t miss Leo’s games. I missed too many of yours,” became the filter for his next chapter. Today George helps cash-rich, time-poor founders escape founder prison, remove themselves as the bottleneck, and build businesses that can grow without stealing the best of them from their families. Contact George on his website, Facebook, or LinkedIn.

Featuring: Cass Bailey, Slice Communications – In episode 170, I sit down with Cass Bailey, founder and CEO of Slice Communications, a national strategic communications agency based in Philadelphia. Cass shares her path from litigation support at a DC PR firm to economic development to launching Slice in 2008, selling it in 2010, and buying it back in 2012. From there, we dig into how she has grown through acquisition, why most of her deals came from people already in her orbit, and how a painful experience as a seller shaped the M&A communications playbooks her team now builds for clients. Agency owners will walk away understanding why 60 to 70 percent of acquisitions fail to deliver their intended value and what they can do about it. Cass explains why an all-hands announcement is usually a mistake, how to segment a team into champions, skeptics, and the undecided, and why clients should hear the news from the people they already trust. Key Bytes • Between 60 and 70 percent of acquisitions fail to deliver their intended value. • Your first acquisition will most likely come from someone already in your orbit. • Employees should never learn their company was sold from a press release. • All internal communication is external communication. • When you announce a sale, people read your energy before they hear your words. • Skip the all-hands and cascade the message through your champions first. • Clients should hear the news from the people they already trust. • Revenue is vanity, and profit is sanity. Chapters 00:00 Meet Cass Bailey and her path into PR 02:08 Why AI slop puts critical thinking at risk 04:57 Launching Slice, selling it, and buying it back 08:05 Where acquisition deals actually come from 12:30 Why most acquisitions lose value after closing 16:34 Planning who finds out, when, and how 19:51 Why all-hands announcements backfire 22:09 Protecting client relationships through the transition 25:35 When the skeptic holds the keys to your biggest accounts 29:22 Rapid fire with Cass Cass Bailey is the Founder and CEO of Slice Communications, a national strategic communications agency. She is the founder and Chair Emerita of the Social Media Collaborative, a nonprofit membership organization. She is the author of two marketing books—Pay Attention! and Social Media is About People—and creator of the "My Mom Is…" children's book series. Cass has appeared on TV broadcasts including Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, and The Today Show. Her work and commentary have been published in or quoted by Forbes, Philadelphia Magazine, and TheNextWeb, among many others. Connect with Cass on LinkedIn.

Featuring: Taylor McMaster, Founder, Dot&Co In episode 169, I welcome back Taylor McMaster, founder of Dot and Co and host of the Happy Clients podcast, to talk about the sale of her agency to E2M. Taylor started Dot and Co in 2018 with an exit already in mind. We dig into how she built a category of one in fractional account management by saying no more often than yes, why she spent years removing herself from the day-to-day, and how a casual conversation at an industry event turned into a year-long relationship and, eventually, a deal that closed in under two months. She also gets honest about the mistakes that stretched her timeline and the mental shift of handing over the reins. For agency owners, this one is a reminder that sellability is built, not bolted on. Focus, documented systems, and a business that runs without you create real options. And the trust you build with peers today may become the foundation of your best deal tomorrow. Key Bytes • Saying no more often than yes is what turns a niche into a category of one. • If you want to sell someday, every hire should remove risk from you as the founder. • Teetering between a lifestyle business and a scaling business can cost you years. • Waiting for one more tweak to boost the multiple rarely changes the outcome. • Your first buyer is likely already somewhere in your network. • Due diligence starts long before the LOI, in every conversation built on trust. • When the business doesn't need you, staying on becomes a choice instead of a condition. • Stepping away from the craft you love is the hardest part of building to sell. Chapters 00:00 Welcoming Taylor McMaster back to the show 02:16 Building a category of one in fractional account management 05:00 Starting with the exit in mind from day one 08:15 The hiring and investment mistakes that slowed the timeline 12:50 The mental shift of handing over the reins 16:39 Early buyer conversations that didn't feel right 17:38 How a chat at an industry event led to E2M 21:04 Life nine months after the acquisition 25:28 Why there's no grief when you've already stepped away 28:06 Closing the deal in under two months Taylor McMaster is the founder of DOT & Company where she and her team help digital marketing agencies keep their clients happy—and keep agency owners focused on what they do best—with full-service client account management (CAM) services. As the leader of DOT & Company, Taylor trained and led a team of Client Account Managers who partnered with agencies to deliver smooth, strategic, high-touch client service. The company’s success and impact ultimately led to its acquisition, marking an exciting next chapter in Taylor’s entrepreneurial journey. Taylor is also the host of The Happy Clients Podcast, where she interviews top names in the industry and explores what it really takes to create happy, retained clients in the agency world. Contact Taylor on the Dot&Co website, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and be sure to listen to their podcast!

Featuring: Rachel Zorel, 7 Layer Studio In episode 168, I sit down with Rachel Zorel, founder and creative director of Seven Layer Studio, a creative agency based in South Orange, New Jersey. Rachel walks me through her path from young designer in New York City to giving notice the day after one coffee meeting, then spending more than a decade solo before building a team in 2017. We talk about what changes when you move from doing the work to directing it, why "work in progress" became a quiet philosophy inside her studio, and why her team chooses to work side by side. We also dig into her decision to stay broad across healthcare, philanthropy, food, education, and beauty rather than niche down. For agency owners, this conversation is a reminder that culture is built through small, deliberate habits. Rachel shows how being honest about what you haven't done yet builds more trust than pretending, and why a generalist perspective can be a real differentiator when it is a choice rather than a default. Key Bytes • There is never a right time to start, so the waiting is usually the bigger risk. • Reliability can become your brand promise when your industry is known for the opposite. • As an owner, you never stop being close to the work, you just get close to it in new ways. • Calling yourself a work in progress keeps the whole team open to getting better. • Saying yes to new work only builds trust when you are honest about how much you have done. • Some creative decisions are simply better made standing next to each other. • Junior team members learn as much from overheard conversations as from formal training. • A generalist agency can win because clients don't want to look like everyone else in their category. Chapters 00:00 Meet Rachel Zorel and Seven Layer Studio 01:14 Leaving an agency job at 24 with no backup plan 02:37 Setting out to prove designers can be reliable 05:59 Moving from employee to freelancer to owner 09:25 What an owner's day looks like with a team of five 12:59 Why work in progress is a mindset, not just a sign 16:44 Saying yes to new work while staying honest 18:26 Why the team chooses to work side by side 22:57 Making the case for staying a generalist 25:13 Rapid fire and advice to a younger Rachel Rachel Zorel is the founder and creative director of 7 Layer Studio, a creative agency in South Orange, New Jersey. She left her agency job at 24 to start a one-woman design company, then steadily and skillfully grew it, becoming 7 Layer Studio in 2017. The studio works with founder-led brands, seasoned businesses, and mission-driven organizations across health care philanthropy, food, education, beauty, and the nonprofit world. The studio's people-first culture is fueled by steady curiosity, insatiable creativity, and the room to not take it all too seriously. Outside of work, Rachel loves a good book, a well-planned trip, and her favorite, a movie night with her husband, four kids, and Rocky, their new puppy. Connect with Rachel on LinkedIn, Instagram, their company website, or their company LinkedIn.

Featuring: Albert Banks, Apertus In episode 167, I sit down with Albert Banks, founder and principal of Apertus and a twenty-plus-year agency veteran who built MyJive, merged with Union, and sold to Valtech. We talk about losing ninety percent of his revenue when traditional agencies brought digital in-house, the 2020 repositioning toward performance marketing, and why splitting account and project management changed how they grew clients. Albert walks me through the merger that pushed both agencies past their plateaus, what a well-run integration looks like inside a global acquirer, and why your peers might be your best future deal partners. If you're running an agency, this one is a reminder that a sellable business and a good life don't have to compete. Albert makes the case for building something operationally sound whether or not you ever sell it, getting the menial work off your plate, and deciding what you actually want before chasing someone else's goals. Key Bytes • Run a business that is sellable, whether you ever sell it or not. • Your best new business usually comes from the clients you already have. • A merger can turn two plateaued agencies into one mature business overnight. • Skipping hard decisions during integration feels kind, but it rarely serves the team. • Similar partners can still make great decisions if diverse viewpoints are welcomed at the table. • Today's competitor may be tomorrow's merger partner, so build the relationship now. • You can't plan an exit while you're still buried in the menial work. • There will always be more work to do, so make time for the life you're working for. Chapters 00:00 Welcome and intro to Albert Banks 01:18 From computer engineer to accidental agency founder 03:18 Losing 90% of revenue and rebuilding the positioning 06:41 Splitting account and project management to grow clients 08:06 Staying on through the acquisition and integration 12:33 Merging with a peer to break through the growth ceiling 17:47 Why your peers might be your future deal partners 19:47 Life after the exit as a fractional advisor 24:12 Building a sellable business that still gives you a life 27:24 Rapid-fire questions and closing thoughts Albert Banks is a 20+ year agency veteran, former developer, and "recovering" agency owner. Over two decades, he scaled and transitioned his own firm, from founding digital agency Myjive, to merging with Union, to ultimately completing an acquisition by global digital agency Valtech. Today, Albert is the Founder and Principal of Apertus, where he serves as a fractional leader and advisor to independent professional services firms. Drawing on his firsthand experience navigating growth plateaus, post-merger integrations, and exits, Albert helps agency founders build operationally sound, highly profitable businesses through operational and financial excellence, employee engagement, and M&A/sale preparation. Contact Albert on LinkedIn or their website.