Section 18
Run a marketing agency
Start, price, fill and grow a small marketing agency, one client at a time.
24 of 26 guides written. The rest are marked coming soon and become links when they are published.
Start here
- How to start a digital marketing agency with no experienceAgencyStart a digital marketing agency with no experience: pick one service and one kind of business, get your first real results in 14 days of daily practice, register and set up to get paid, send 100 personal messages a day with a paid first month, and deliver it so it becomes your first case study.
- How to go from freelancer to agencyAgencyGo from freelancer to agency when it is just you: set up the name, email, bank account and agreement, move each client onto a monthly package, keep sending 100 personal messages a day, write your work down as checklists, and give one to a paid contractor once client work passes 24 hours a week.
- How to choose a niche for your agencyAgencyChoose a niche for your agency in 3 weeks: write 3 guesses from where you already got results, keep the ones where you can find 3,000 businesses that pay for marketing, test them side by side with 100 personal messages a day, and keep the niche with the most calls per 100 after 2,100 messages.
- How to package your agency servicesAgencyPackage your agency services when it is just you: name one monthly package after the result you get one kind of client, list every piece of work with a number, write what is not included, make three options, and change one line after every 10 proposals.
- How to price social media managementAgencyPrice social media management when it is just you: time each post, carousel, short video and 15 minutes of replies and price each piece from your lowest price per hour, build three monthly options from posts and channels, send them within 24 hours of every call, and log each client's hours every Sunday.
Find clients
- How to get agency clients without case studiesAgencyGet agency clients without case studies: list every true result you have on one proof page, ask each client for their numbers at day 30, run the same check on 300 businesses in your niche, put one proof line in each of 100 personal messages a day, offer a paid first month with a day-30 scorecard, and count calls by kind of proof every Sunday.
- How to write a cold email for a marketing agencyAgencyWrite a cold email for your marketing agency that owners answer: open with one fix you found on their marketing, add one honest line of proof, offer a free 5-minute video, then send 100 a day and count conversations for each fix every Sunday.
- How to get agency clients on LinkedInAgencyGet agency clients on LinkedIn in 4 weeks: write your profile for one kind of client, publish a free Service Page, ask each client for a review and 3 introductions, post twice a day, leave 20 comments and send 100 personal messages a day within LinkedIn's limits, and count calls by where they started every Sunday.
- How to get clients on UpworkAgencyGet clients on Upwork as a one-person agency: one profile for one kind of client, a fixed-price starter project, a Connects cap of one month of a client's fee, a personal proposal on every fresh job that passes 5 checks, the rest of your 100 daily messages sent outside Upwork, and a Sunday count that tells you when to stop buying Connects.
- How to find clients online as a freelance marketerAgencyFind clients online as a freelance marketer: put one line about who you help on LinkedIn and Upwork, save 5 searches that show businesses asking for marketing help, reply to every fresh request, fill the rest of 100 personal messages a day with Upwork, LinkedIn and email, answer 20 questions and post twice a day, and move your hours every Sunday to the place that brings conversations.
Run client work
- How to write a scope of work that stops scope creepAgencyWrite a scope of work that stops scope creep: list last month's extra requests, write every monthly deliverable with a number, a date and 2 rounds of changes, add a Not included list and a change rule, get it signed, answer every extra request with a price within 24 hours, and check hours every Sunday.
- How to onboard a new marketing clientAgencyOnboard a new marketing client when it is just you: send one welcome email the day they sign, get access to every account without a password, fill in a 15-question form from their website, run a 45-minute kickoff, write down the starting number, and get the first work approved by day 7.
- How to set up client approvalsAgencySet up client approvals when it is just you: write five approval rules into each client's scope, build one free approval sheet per client, keep 10 backup posts approved in advance, send one batch a week, chase late posts every day, and schedule only what says Approved.
- How to keep client brand voices separate when using AIAgencyKeep client brand voices separate when using AI: make one ChatGPT or Claude project per client with its memory kept inside, write a one-page voice file from the client's own words, draft 3 versions of every post in the right project, pass a blind voice check before approval, and add one rule from the client's edits every Sunday.
- How to manage multiple client social media accountsAgencyManage multiple client social media accounts when it is just you: list every account with its owner, your role and how it gets posted, lock your own logins with two-factor codes, give each client its own group in one scheduler and one folder, work one client at a time every day with a right-account check, post twice a day on your own channel, and count posts and hours every Sunday.
- How to run Facebook ads for clientsAgencyRun Facebook ads for clients from a one-person agency: check each client is ready, agree in writing a test limit of 10 times what one result is worth over 14 days, get partner access to the ad account the client owns and pays for, test tracking with one real result, turn off losing ads every day, and send a five-line report every Sunday that raises 20% or stops.
- How to write a monthly client reportAgencyWrite a monthly client report your clients read: lead with the one number from their package against where it started, fill one row per client every Sunday from their own records, let AI draft the page on the 2nd, check every number, and send it on the 3rd with one ask and a 30-minute call.
- How to explain SEO timelines to clientsAgencyExplain SEO timelines to clients when it is just you: write down six starting numbers from Search Console, put the pages you will publish each month and four check dates with pass lines on one page, get a written yes before they sign, send four SEO lines every Sunday, answer every question the same day, and change one thing at each missed check.
Grow the agency
- How to reduce agency client churnAgencyReduce agency client churn when it is just you: write down the one number each client pays for, check every client for 7 warning signs every day, call within 24 hours when you see two, send a weekly update with the number and one new idea, hold a review every 90 days, and leave cleanly when a client still goes.
- How to raise agency pricesAgencyRaise agency prices when it is just you: log each client's hours against what their price pays for, put your new price on every new proposal and send 100 personal messages a day until it holds on 10 proposals, then call each client and email a new price, a date at least 60 days away and a smaller option, and count every Sunday.
- How to sell AI visibility servicesAgencySell AI visibility services when it is just you: write a one-page offer with a paid check of 20 buyer questions in 3 AI tools and a monthly add-on priced from your hours, run it on your current clients first, send 100 messages a day that open with a prospect's own ChatGPT answer, promise the work and never a mention, and count every Sunday.
- How to sell SEO services to web design clientsAgencyComing soon
- How to turn website projects into monthly retainersAgencyComing soon
- How to hire your first contractorAgencyHire your first contractor when it is just you: check that client work has passed 24 hours a week twice or a client paid for work you cannot do, set the most you can pay at half the client's price for that work, brief 30 freelancers, pay 3 for the same trial, and sign an agreement and get a W-9 before the first payment.
- How to resell white-label SEOAgencyResell white-label SEO from a one-person agency without losing margin or trust: write the work as a numbered list, get prices from 10 vendors and keep each under half the client price, test their links against Google's spam policies, give them their own access, check every link and page before the client sees it, and count each client's margin every Sunday.
- How to scale a digital marketing agencyAgencyScale your digital marketing agency from 2 clients to about 10: work out how many clients you can serve alone, sell one package at a price that pays, send 100 personal messages a day and ask every client for an introduction, run every client the same way, hand work to AI and a contractor past 24 client hours a week, and count clients, hours and money every Sunday.