John Corcoran is the co-founder of Rise25, an agency that helps B2B companies get clients, referrals, and strategic partnerships through done-for-you podcasts and content marketing. John has been podcasting since 2010 and his business partner Jeremy has been doing it since 2008. Together they've built a team of over 50 people to support B2B companies in leveraging this powerful medium.

John has a fascinating and diverse background prior to Rise25. At various points in his career, he was paid by President Bill Clinton as a White House writer, worked for Steven Spielberg at DreamWorks, and did some work for Warren Buffett. He was also a lawyer for a period before discovering the power of podcasting to have high-caliber business conversations and decided to make that his focus.

In this episode of Agency Journey, John shares his knowledge on using podcasts strategically to deliver value to your ideal clients and referral partners. He emphasizes that download numbers and vanity metrics matter far less than having the right conversations with the right people.

We also dig into John's involvement with Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO) and get an inside look at different high-level business peer groups.

This is a great episode for agency leaders interested in the power of podcasts and surrounding yourself with other successful entrepreneurs.

Episode Insights:

💡 Interviewing people for a podcast is a far more effective way to build relationships than typical coffee networking meetings. It allows you to provide value and have higher caliber conversations.

💡 Focus on creating podcast content that delivers value to your ideal clients and referral partners. Don't get caught up in vanity metrics like downloads - it's about having the right conversations with the right people.

💡 Joining a peer community for entrepreneurs, such as EO, can provide invaluable support, camaraderie, and learning opportunities to help you through the unique challenges of building a business.

💡 Explore different business groups to find the right fit for you.

💡 Use your podcast as a strategic tool to have conversations with people who wouldn't otherwise carve out time to meet with you. It's an amazing way to connect with hard-to-reach, high-caliber people.

Resources Mentioned:

🌐 John’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/corcoran/

🎙️ INspired INsider podcast hosted by Jeremy Weisz: https://www.inspiredinsider.com/?utm_campaign=agency-journey-ep-294-john-corcoran

🎙️ Smart Business Revolution podcast hosted by John Corcoran: https://smartbusinessrevolution.com/podcasts/?utm_campaign=agency-journey-ep-294-john-corcoran

🏢 Rise25 agency website: https://rise25.com/?utm_campaign=agency-journey-ep-294-john-corcoran

👥 EO (Entrepreneurs' Organization): https://hub.eonetwork.org/?utm_campaign=agency-journey-ep-294-john-corcoran

👥 Vistage

👥 YPO (Young Presidents' Organization)

👥 Strategic Coach

👥 Tiger21

👥 Hampton

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In this episode, Kuba generates a list of client success tips using AI—and Gray critiques them and goes way deeper based on his hard-won experience in the agency space.

Episode Insights:

💡 Understanding client goals is crucial for improving client success. Ask questions and listen carefully to their answers to gain a deeper understanding.

💡 Regular communication is key. Set clear expectations around how and when you'll communicate with clients, and provide updates on progress and challenges.

💡 Be proactive in identifying and preventing issues before they arise. Addressing problems openly and honestly builds trust with clients.

💡 Personalize the experience by treating each client as unique and customizing services to fit their specific needs. Show that you are paying attention and value their individuality.

💡 Clarity is kindness. Be clear and firm in setting expectations and communicate openly when issues arise.

Resourced Mentioned:

🌐 ZenPilot: https://www.zenpilot.com/?utm_source=youtube.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=agency-journey-ep-293-gray-vs-ai-client-success-tips

🌐 Gray’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/graymackenzie/

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Brought to you by ZenPilot, ClickUp’s #1 Solutions Partner with 2,700+ agency ops makeovers under our belt.

📕 Read our in-depth, 8000-word How to Use ClickUp Guide: https://www.zenpilot.com/blog/how-to-use-clickup?utm_campaign=agency-journey-ep-293-gray-vs-ai-client-success-tips

👉 Don’t forget to follow and rate us on your preferred podcast platforms. We’re also on YouTube: @ZenPilot

“Candidate expectations have certainly accelerated. There's a difference today versus 10 years ago in terms of what people's expectations are and how fast other processes are going. And so moving quickly is an advantage in a hiring process—and figuring out how to move quickly without sacrificing on the process is a little bit of an art.”

In this episode, our very own Gray McKenzie discusses the process of hiring the right people for an agency. He shares his recent experience of hiring an Integrator and COO for ZenPilot, and all the small and big decisions that shaped the recruitment process. Gray explains the hiring framework we followed, the stages of the hiring process, the approach towards sourcing and screening candidates, and much more.

A great listen for anyone looking to expand their team—it will help you craft a fast process that surfaces the best talent and captures it before it goes off the market.

Episode Insights:

💡 Hiring the right people is crucial for agency growth and success.

💡 “Who: the A Method for Hiring” is a framework that can help agencies find and hire the best candidates.

💡 It’s important to promote your job postings selectively to have a higher quality pipeline.

💡 Clear communication and transparency about the role and expectations are key in attracting the right candidates. Have a defined hiring process to provide clarity and confidence to both candidates and the hiring team.

💡 Move quickly in the hiring process to meet candidate expectations and avoid losing top talent.

💡 Reference checks are crucial to gather additional insights and validate a candidate's performance.

💡 Group interviews can provide different perspectives and help candidates and team members build rapport.

💡 Consider a co-working session as part of your hiring process to assess candidates in action.

💡 Make connections with unsuccessful candidates to maintain positive relationships and potential future opportunities.

Resourced Mentioned:

🌐 ZenPilot

🌐 Gray’s LinkedIn

📚 "Who: The A Method for Hiring" by Geoff Smart and Randy Street

📚 "Topgrading" by Bradford D. Smart

⚙️ EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System)

🤝 EOS Self-Implementers Group

⚒️ Loom

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📕 Get our free, 56-page ebook: "How to Use ClickUp – The Ultimate Guide":

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"I think the hardest thing that all HubSpot agencies are trying to solve for is… 500 product updates this year. How do you keep it all straight? How do you share that knowledge? How much knowledge do you have to know as a team, to what level? One thing that I practice and preach is: not everybody's going to know everything, but that collectively as a team and as an agency, we've got people in certain areas that are experts in those areas that we can rely on."

Adam Sharrow is the founder of Process Pro Consulting, a HubSpot Diamond Partner agency specializing in technical implementation, optimization, and support for businesses using HubSpot.

Drawing from his experience in building and scaling a successful HubSpot agency, Adam shares about navigating the challenges of growth, managing a team of experts, and staying ahead of the curve even as HubSpot releases 500+ product updates each year.

This episode of Agency Journey will be perfect for agency owners looking to specialize in a specific niche, such as HubSpot consulting, and build a sustainable, scalable business model.

You'll learn about the importance of conducting thorough client assessments, balancing quick wins with long-term strategic planning, and fostering a culture of knowledge sharing and expertise within your growing team.

Episode Insights:

💡 Challenges and strategies for running a HubSpot-focused agency—from a HubSpot Diamond Partner

💡 The trajectory of HubSpot: where it’s going in the future, and how it relates to how Salesforce grew

💡 The importance of a paid discovery/assessment—and seeing it through even when clients want to jump to solving specific issues

💡 The capacity planning challenges created by month-to-month retainers (and how to mitigate them)

💡 Staying on top of 500+ HubSpot product updates per year and managing collective internal expertise as you scale

💡 Addressing the challenges of scaling from 5 to 10 to 15 people—and how it impacts which metrics you track

💡 Specializing in your wheelhouse of expertise vs trying to solve everything + the benefits of partnering with other agencies for complementary needs

💡 How to build sales pipeline as a HubSpot agency

Resourced Mentioned:

📚 Process Pro Consulting website

📚 Adam Sharrow on LinkedIn

👉 Don’t forget to follow and rate us on your preferred podcast platforms. We’re also on YouTube: @ZenPilot

We’ve got an announcement to share about the future of the podcast.

👉 Don’t forget to follow and rate us on your preferred podcast platforms. We’re also on YouTube: @ZenPilot

“In today's day and age people are scared to be measured. But your athletes, they love it because that's how they grew up. How do you know who are the best players on the team? You look at the box score, you look at the stat sheet. So I like bringing a sports mentality to everything I do.”

Casey Cavell is a serial entrepreneur. He’s built a $40,000,000 portfolio from a $9,000 investment by founding, buying, or investing in dozens of small businesses over the last two decades.

He also has personal experience with the kind of burnout that results from the business growing and relying too heavily on one person.

Which is why he now focuses on helping companies simplify, focus, and get the business owner out of the day-to-day.

This episode of Agency Journey will be perfect if you’re an entrepreneur thinking about investing in and increasing the value of other businesses; bringing in A-players; and mindfully delegating tasks until you’re left working on what you do best and love most.

Episode Insights:

💡 How Casey found underperforming businesses to acquire, and how he turned them into more systematic, process-driven organizations

💡 Buying businesses outright vs coming in as an investor

💡 Structuring equity/profit-sharing deals with clients—including earning trust with a 90-day initial engagement

💡 How to prevent burnout by delegating tasks, hiring A-players, and removing reliance on the owner

💡 The specific tasks entrepreneurs should delegate first

💡 Defining what you want your business to do for your life

Resourced Mentioned:

📚 Casey’s consulting business

📚 Casey’s LinkedIn

📚 The Dugout CEO podcast

📚 The Friday Drive newsletter

📚 Books: Good to Great; Rich Dad Poor Dad; The E-Myth

👉 Don’t forget to follow and rate us on your preferred podcast platforms. We’re also on YouTube: @ZenPilot

“I had bought into this idea that you had to sacrifice everything you had to kill yourself for growth. And it cost me dearly. I made some really poor decisions.”

Carlos Hidalgo is co-founder & CEO of Digital Exhaust, a Utah-based data-driven, AI-enabled agency with a belief that "growth is a state of being, not just a goal to be achieved".

But he's also a man with a dramatic story of putting his business ahead of his other life priorities—and learning some very hard lessons from that.

This episode of Agency Journey will be a perfect reality check for agency owners, and an opportunity to re-assess the importance you should put on your agency relative to the current stage of your life journey.

It will be especially relevant if you're balancing being a business owner with being a spouse, a parent, and a person driven by faith.

Episode Insights:

💡 The pivotal moments that reshaped Carlos's perspective on work-life balance and led him to reassess his priorities—including stepping down from one of his previous agencies.

💡 Practical wisdom on setting non-negotiable boundaries, prioritizing well-being, and staying true to your business ethos.

💡 Specific practices and habits Carlos introduced with his wife and himself to build a balanced and fulfilling life as an agency owner.

💡 The virtues of being selective about what you're willing to invest yourself in, and how much.

Resourced Mentioned:

📚 Digital Exhaust

📚 The UnAmerican Dream by Carlos Hidalgo (book)

📚 Carlos' LinkedIn

🛠️ AI tools: Otter, ChatGPT, Jasper

👉 Don’t forget to follow and rate us on your preferred podcast platforms. We’re also on YouTube: @ZenPilot