Mandi Ellefson’s guest is Tom Shapiro, the founder and CEO of Stratabeat, a digital marketing agency that helps businesses grow via branding, design, and strategic thinking. He is a marketer who understands what businesses need and crafts strategies to fill those needs. . You’ll hear Mandi and Tom talk about: "What we're seeing is that a lot of businesses are struggling with lead generation and struggling to increase the number of leads that they're generating," Tom explains. Businesses cannot h...
Feb 10, 2022•44 min•Ep. 58
James Schramko, bestselling author and host of the SuperfastBusiness podcast, invited Mandi Ellefson on his show recently. This is a cross-post of their enlightening conversation about scaling a service business. You’ll hear Mandi and James talk about: How soon to start building a team and becoming a Hands Off CEO. “Please don’t build a solopreneur business if you can avoid it!” James cautions listeners. Melissa comments, “It gets to a point where you're able to really take advantage of all the ...
Feb 03, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 57
Mandi Ellefson discusses how to make growing your consulting agency simpler in this solo episode of Hands-Off CEO. You’ll hear Mandi talk about: “It’s not that something is wrong with your business; it’s that you’re working way too hard.” Mandi shares why CEOs sometimes struggle with growth. [0:23] Mandi shares an example of a client who struggled to find a reason to scale. “It can’t just be about money, it has to be something bigger than that.” [1:08] Sometimes working with half the number of c...
Jan 27, 2022•10 min•Ep. 56
Mandi Ellefson’s guest is Ron Friedman, the founder of ignite80, an organization dedicated to teaching leaders practical, evidence-based techniques for working smarter and elevating their team's performance through keynotes, workshops, and consulting. He is also CEO at Friedman Strategy Group, where he fuses psychological insight with cutting-edge research to deliver actionable marketing recommendations. You’ll hear Mandi and Ron Friedman talk about: “Throughout our lives, we’ve only been taught...
Jan 20, 2022•31 min•Ep. 55
Mandi Ellefson’s guest is Mark Arnold, President of On the Mark Strategies, a consulting firm specializing in branding and strategic planning. Mark has written several books, and is an acclaimed speaker who specializes in personal growth, leadership, marketing, and strategy. You’ll hear Mandi and Mark Arnold talk about: “When I started, I couldn’t see everything that others could see,” Mark admits. “When the vision expands, the business expands, and sometimes there are self limiting beliefs that...
Jan 06, 2022•28 min•Ep. 54
Mandi Ellefson’s guest this week is Nathan Kievman, a world-renowned demand generation expert and business growth strategist. He is the CEO of Linked Strategies, a consulting firm specializing in measurable client and talent acquisition campaigns. Nathan is an entrepreneur, executive engagement specialist, and a digital marketing strategist. You’ll hear Mandi and Nathan Kievman talk about: “I’ve always had a passion for interacting with the leaders of leaders,” Nathan says. He talks about how he...
Dec 30, 2021•37 min•Ep. 53
Mandi Ellefson is discussing mindset shifts with Laura Cook, who is Director and CEO at Teal Vision Ltd, an organization dedicated to unlocking profits, accelerating growth, and helping CEOs get their lives back. Laura is passionate about supporting 7 and 8 figure businesses to predictably grow with less stress, more money, and secure a bigger exit. You’ll hear Mandi and Laura Cook talk about: “My monthly rates have tripled since the beginning of the year, and my average length of contract has i...
Dec 23, 2021•33 min•Ep. 52
Mandi Ellefson shares how leaders can drive rapid growth in their company beyond themselves in this solo episode of Hands-Off CEO. You’ll hear Mandi talk about: Convincing someone to do something: they have to want to do it, and money isn’t the most reliable incentive. [1:32] The food chain of passion. “If you don’t have a lot of passion, then neither will your team.” [3:43] The secret to growing your company beyond you. “What is the bigger reason for why you're scaling? What is the impact that ...
Dec 16, 2021•10 min•Ep. 51
Mandi Ellefson discusses global shifts in marketing with John Jantsch, the founder and President of Duct Tape Marketing. John has been featured in multiple publications including The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Inc. Magazine, and USA Today. In addition to training and licensing independent consultants and agencies using the Duct Tape method, John is also the author of several books focused on marketing and professional development. You’ll hear Mandi and John Jantsch talk about: “Every a...
Dec 09, 2021•28 min•Ep. 50
Mandi Ellefson is discussing why popular scaling advice is terrible for consulting agencies. She shares insights about marketing, systems, and what you should actually do to scale. You’ll hear Mandi talk about: “Do you really want to systematize and accelerate a process that's just getting okay and mediocre results?” Mandi shares a story about a company that grew from referrals, but was challenged when they attempted proactive marketing. [1:25] “Your marketing could be telling stories to support...
Dec 02, 2021•14 min•Ep. 49
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED November 2018. How much could you grow if you could guarantee results for your clients? Because many custom service providers only market their clients’ successes and aren’t honest about the rest, there are a lot of burned clients. And ethical providers tend to be less forward because they’re nervous about over-promising and under-delivering. You can stand out in the crowd by embracing integrity. Then you don’t have to SAY you’re better; you ARE better.
May 20, 2021•16 min•Ep. 46
Do you rely on persuasion to make sales? Yes, it works and that is why people continue to rely on it to grow their businesses. But what if you could move beyond these old school tips and tricks? And honestly discuss with your clients their challenges and help them see what is possible. On this week’s episode, I talk about the five steps that will help you to update the way you sell to clients. Use these steps to not only grow your business, but also retain clients for longer.
May 13, 2021•20 min•Ep. 45
What got entrepreneurs to a certain point in their business may now work against them and it now holds them back from achieving more - Paradox Resistance.
May 06, 2021•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 44
Ramp up client acquisition in your consulting business without making it complex. You can grow your company without having to slow yourself down with all of the tactics that you see all over the web. Many online gurus promote complex funnels, but these funnels actually add a level of complexity. Instead, you can make sure that you are doing the steps of scaling your marketing and your sales at the time that's actually appropriate in your business.
Mar 11, 2021•7 min•Ep. 42
Feb 11, 2021•18 min•Ep. 41
Transitioning from working in the business to working on the business can be hard, but there are three simple steps you can follow to get unstuck. In today’s episode, we’re going to look at Tom. Tom was a marketing agency owner who had a relatively successful business, but became stagnated for years because it was just too stressful for him to keep scaling. He ended up scaling up and then scaling back so he could retain some sanity and hopefully retain some family balance.
Dec 17, 2020•18 min•Ep. 38
A lot of agencies love having retainers - they are the Holy Grail. Having clients on long-term retainers, consistently paying you month-after-month gives you a strong, consistent cash flow so you can scale your business from that. It can be very challenging to get to the point where clients are going to commit at this level, and it can take months or even years of testing with small projects to be able to build that trust with them.
Dec 03, 2020•17 min•Ep. 37
Buying patterns have been changing for hundreds of years, but what has changed recently is how quickly those buying patterns have changed. The trend happens any time there’s a recession or downturn in the market. Only the toughest and strongest businesses are going to rise to the top. But the $1,000,000 question is: How are you able to position your consulting agency so that you not only survive, but actually thrive?
Nov 26, 2020•17 min•Ep. 36
Madeleine and I talk about how she's scaled her business, how she's been able to 10 X her income in and create that 10 X the amount of growth since the beginning of the year - during COVID - and how she's innovated her business model to really thrive during this market. You’ll also see what has been working for her to create such a fast, rapid growth in her business, and really being able to go from a capacity of 3 clients to now having a capacity of 20 clients (and increase her fees considerabl...
Nov 19, 2020•34 min•Ep. 35
Brian Regienczuk, CEO and Founder of Agency Spotter, shares tips to grow your business by landing BIG clients, even when you’re up against other, bigger agencies for the job.
Sep 24, 2020•40 min•Ep. 34
Lorne Greenfield, who has helped small to midsize businesses experience the growth they desire by understanding the role of finance in their companies for the past 20 years, shares his insights on how consulting agencies can scale faster by strategically funding their growth.
Sep 17, 2020•51 min•Ep. 33
Steve Gordon was my guest on the podcast today. He’s a 2-time entrepreneur, and bestselling author of Unstoppable Referrals: 10x Referrals, Half the Effort and The Exponential Network Strategy. He’s the host of The Unstoppable CEO™ podcast, and has published over 400 articles on marketing and sales for professional service firms. His firm, The Unstoppable Agency helps consultants and digital agencies land great clients by hosting their own podcast and using his proprietary Podcast Prospecting...
Sep 10, 2020•42 min•Ep. 32
Mandi shares the top 5 reasons consulting agencies fail at scaling, and discusses the roadmap she uses for Hands-Off CEO™ clients to help them scale their businesses successfully.
Sep 03, 2020•21 min•Ep. 31
Timothy Francis from Great Assistant was Mandi’s guest on the podcast today. Through his work as a private consultant, Tim noticed that entrepreneurs desperately needed help with the minutiae involved with running a business - they needed to get those administrative and operational tasks off their plate. Tim started Great Assistant to help entrepreneurs hire an assistant, retain them for years, and make them really profitable.
Mar 05, 2020•1 hr•Ep. 30
How do we get such great results for our clients? And how can you model what we're doing so that you can generate bigger results for YOUR clients? You become the very best in your industry by delivering better results. You’re able to charge fees that are at the top in your industry, and even create your own category - just by delivering incredible outcomes every single time.
Feb 06, 2020•18 min•Ep. 29
Want bigger profits... Better results from your team... Higher paying clients... ? YOU must be better. On the podcast, I'll share with you 4 ways how you can innovate your service to make it more profitable, and easier to sell too. Being a Hands-Off CEO is about 100% responsibility as the leader. Letting go, and delegating ownership is the key to making more, as you work less. But it comes at a cost: your willingness to BE BETTER!
Jan 23, 2020•20 min•Ep. 28
Next to hiring salespeople, hiring an Operations Manager is the most difficult position to hire for. I'm going to share with you the three ways that we see CEO’s fail when hiring a Second in Command. And then how to get them right. Even if you find a great candidate, you won’t be able to retain them for long if you haven’t considered what we share in this episode.
Jan 09, 2020•18 min•Ep. 27
Dec 26, 2019•10 min•Ep. 26
Shaun Buck owns The Newsletter Pro, based out of Boise, Idaho. It's now a 60+ member team and the nation’s largest custom print newsletter company. His $10MM marketing services company maintain aggressive growth because it can run without him for months. Shaun and The Newsletter Pro landed at No. 120 on the Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Companies list. And has collaborated with marketing guru Dan Kennedy to co-write the No B.S Guide to Maximum Referrals and Customer Retention.
Dec 12, 2019•55 min•Ep. 25
To have the level of success and freedom you want, you have to be willing to rock the boat. Often these breakdowns are such great gifts because it leads to powerfully choosing what we do want. “Pretty good” and “OK” are the biggest obstacles we have working with agency owners. They’re afraid to rock the boat to be able to actually have what they want. Are you willing to rock the boat to create the business and life you love?
Nov 28, 2019•12 min•Ep. 24
