AI Design Tools Force Agencies to Sell Expertise, Not Output
Every agency founder’s quiet fear is that AI will make their business obsolete in six months. That’s not true. It's much worse than that. Six months was last week’s timeline. This morning, Anthropic released Claude Design, a tool that turns a sentence into a production-ready prototype. It can compress what would be a week of agency design work into one conversation. As of today, clients can open a tool like this, type a sentence, and see a prototype that looks 70% like what their agency delivered last quarter for $40k. Make no mistake: if it wasn’t happening already, they definitely will be questioning retainers, trimming scopes, slowing their referrals, and asking harder questions at renewal. When Expedia launched, the travel agents who survived didn’t compete on booking flights faster. They moved up the stack. They curated trips, built industry networks that clients couldn’t access on their own, and sold the kind of judgment that only comes from going somewhere fifty times. This is that moment for agencies who’ve built their business on delivering production work. Which means the question every agency founder needs an answer to right now is this: When execution is no longer the thing you sell, what is? I’ve been planning a private roundtable for weeks for agency owners to work through exactly this together. It’s happening next Tuesday. No panels, no pitching. Just agencies comparing notes on what’s working and what isn’t. If you’re running an agency and you’ve felt the ground move in the last 90 days—heck, the last 90 minutes—this is the conversation. $100k+ agencies only. Comment ROUNDTABLE and I’ll send you the application.
Believe in Untapped Potential: Coaching Unlocks Hidden Ability
One of my favorite passages from one of my favorite books, Coaching for Performance by Sir John Whitmore: “Unless you believe that people possess more ability than they are currently expressing, you will not be able to help them express it.” This...
When Fixes Fail, Agencies Must Own Solutions
In August 2024, I paid $24,724 for a completely new heating and cooling system in my house. Since the day it was installed, it hasn’t worked the way we agreed upon. They acknowledge that it’s not working the way it should. They’ve...
My AI Chief of Staff Boosts Productivity, Yet Still Falters
Like a lot of folks, I’ve been slowly building my own Chief of Staff agent. It works really well for some things, like: → Evaluating my upcoming week on Sundays so Monday morning is clean → Facilitating the start and end...
AI Reshapes Agencies, but Core Fundamentals Stay Unchanged
AI is changing everything about running an agency. Except the parts that actually matter. I dug into the research from @sparktoro, the Design Business Council, @lennysan’s Newsletter, and a few others. I talked to a bunch of agency owners about it too. Here’s...
Choosing the Right Clients Drives Greater Profits
Beginners: “I need every client.” Amateurs: “I’ll tolerate this one.” Pros: “This isn’t a fit.” The moment you’re willing to lose the money is the moment you start making more of it. https://t.co/TEldAenLCm
Stop Perfecting: Ship 80% and Scale
Most agency owners don’t delegate because they think nobody can do it like them. Perfection is the most expensive thing in your agency. Every hour you spend polishing something from 80% to 100% is an hour you’re not spending on the...
Creating Unseen Futures in a Jungle Retreat
Five days in the jungle with three agency owners, building futures that don’t exist yet.
Make Practice Harder Than the Game You Play
Practice should always be harder the actual game. What game are you playing, and how hard are you practicing?
Consistent Outreach Drives Consistent Revenue Growth
I’ll tell you why your revenue is inconsistent without knowing anything about your business. Some months you do $40K. Other months you do $15K. Why? It’s because your outreach is inconsistent. Some weeks you send 40 messages. Other weeks you send 4. It’s hard...
Debating a Video on Meta‑YouTube Landmark Ruling
I wrote a script for a 10-minute video about the landmark ruling last week about Meta and YouTube. Can’t decide if I should actually make the video or not.
Witness Benten Woodring Build World‑Changing Innovations From Scratch
Watch @bentenwoodring. His work will change the world. You’re getting a chance to see him build from the ground up.
Send Hundreds, Not Six, to Earn Replies
One of my agency owner students told me they sent 6 outreach messages last week. They were proud of that number. Sure, it‘s better than sending 0 messages. But we’re not here for participation trophies. We’re here to grow a business. Let’s look at...
Believe the Best Is Still Ahead to Thrive
The most important quality an agency owner can have for success has nothing to do with sales, or hiring, or positioning. It’s believing the best is yet to come. You must possess a genuine, deep conviction that your biggest, most important...
Authentic Authority Boosts Agency Revenue to $100K+
$100K+ booked for the year already. It’s only March. When they first joined, a result like that felt hard to believe. Here’s what we actually worked on together. We didn’t work on their website. We didn’t work on finding more clients. We worked...