2021 Agency MVPs

Ah, the start of a new year! What a time it is.

A time for rejuvenation, inspiration, and the belief that we can begin anew.

While many are feeling this way, there are few that have sustained this feeling and absolutely dominated for all 2021?

In this month’s newsletter, I am going to be highlighting the top three entrepreneurs I worked with last year; the three that dominated all 2021.

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Over the course of 2021, I had the pleasure of working with over 100 businesses and even more entrepreneurs. A handful are absolute frauds who are just trying to build clout, the majority are impressive in one way or another, but only a few are elite.

Between the 100+ businesses and clients I worked with in 2021, three agency owners stood out as absolute ANIMALS.?

They were:

• David Riggs, Founder of Pneuma Media
• Lucas Capestany, Founder of Twiz?
• Jeremy Epperson, Founder of Conversion Guide,? and partner at Conversion Advocates.?

Before we dive into why these entrepreneurs and the agencies they lead are epic, and what you can learn from them, let’s review their stats.

David Riggs

Only 15 months ago, David was running a small website development agency. He had 3 contractors working for him and was earning between $1,000 and $5,000 per month.

In 2021, he broke out. Over the course of the year, David:

• Grew his team to 30 people
• Fully exited both sales and operations?
• Has earned over $100,000 for 6 months running
• Hit his first 1 million dollars earned in his business (over the last 14 months)?
• Launched an SEO service offering, which is getting INSANE results for his clients (including myself).

Lucas Capestany

Lucas came into 2021 like a wrecking ball. He had two years in a row where he hit 1M in annual sales and added an additional 800k in new revenue in 2021.? Here are some of the coolest aspects about this agency owner:

• He fully removed himself from the day to day operations, and still grew 60% YoY
• launched an agency community that has nearly 300 agencies in it
• Positioned himself to 10X this year (I wouldn't be surprised if his agency hit 10M this year)?

Jeremy Epperson

Wrapping up my big three is the man with the biggest hair (and beard). An alumni and previous executive in silicon valley, Jeremy entered 2021 as a solopreneur and consultant looking to hit his first million dollar year on his own.?

In our first three months together:

• Jeremy went from a team of 3 to a team of 13 in just three months!?
• In that same time span, Jeremy was able to add nearly 70k in MRR to his business.

His angle was somewhat different from the other two entrepreneurs on this list. Jeremy formed a merger with Conversion Advocates which streamlined his ability to scale.??

What was most impressive about Jeremy’s stat line was his speed. It takes many entrepreneurs several years to get to the 85k MRR number. He got over 80% of the way there in just a short 90 days.?

Now, I know what you’re thinking, these guys seem pretty cool and yes, Jeremy does in fact have some dope hair. But what the actual heck can we learn from these guys that you can apply?

Between the three of these beasts, I have identified five skills that each one excels at which has led to their success

Speed

After working with over 200 entrepreneurs in the last 24 months, it is wildly apparent how fast the great ones move.

What often takes many entrepreneurs a month can be accomplished in just days, or sometimes hours, for the elite performers.

These guys time block their calendars, lean into a very narrow focus & flow state, and crank out productive work with zero distractions.

One of my favorite examples came from late in 2021. Lucas and I sat down to review our Agency Go software. I pitched him a new product concept, a software that automatically matches agencies so they can easily set up affiliate partnerships.

Within one week, a beta was live.

The great ones embody the MVP mindset and iterate/improve on the go

Strategy

Each of the greats that I have worked with spend time EVERY WEEK contemplating their strategy. Nothing is done without the end in mind and none of them have to-do lists.

Each of my elite performers acts in order of priority, continually reverse engineering their success by focusing on the 20% of actions that lead to the 80% of their results.?

Talent Magnet?

What’s more impressive than great agency owners is the people that surround them. Jeremy was able to build an elite CRO team through a merger and his ceiling of achievement was nearly 100 X’ed in a matter of a week.

David has three killer executives running his agency and Lucas didn’t work in the business of Twiz ALL YEAR.

The elites are constantly finding great people to run their business.

David embodied this so much that in October of 2020, while he still had a W2 job, he hired his COO Cameron, paying him his entire W2 salary to bring him onboard.

Master Marketer and Sales Jedi?

This one is one of my favorites…these guys crush sales. At a snap of a finger, each of these three can? garner attention, interest, and leads.

Lucas’ agency Twiz was able to book nearly 1300 leads last year and close roughly 25% of those deals.?

Jeremy is able to sit down with some of the world’s top executives and close deals with the largest enterprises (Disney and Mailchimp to name a few).

The great entrepreneurs know that nothing begins until a sale is made and each one of them has spent time mastering this craft…pouring weeks of time, energy, and A LOT of money into these skills.

Elite Teacher and Trainer?

To wrap this all up, the elite are fantastic at training their talent.

I watched David hire a young and talented sales Director, Nate Sroor, and in a matter of 6 months he handed over ALL sales responsibilities to him. Nate CRUSHED Q4, nearly selling 300k in website and SEO deals.?

Lucas was so good at this skill that he wasn’t even in his agency at all in 2021 and Jeremy, man, this guy knows how to teach elite CRO strategies.

The conversion advocate team 10 X'ed their skillset in the first 90 days by working with him.

There you have it…the five skills each one of my elite clients had this year.?

Each one is just as important as the other, and like a starting five in basketball, each skill relies on the others to remain stable and succeed.

Feeling like you’re ready to level up like these guys did in 2021?

Book time with me here for a free consultation to see where you need to focus your energy to level up in 2022.?

Want to check out these awesome agency owners?

Check them out here:

Lucas & Our Agency Community

David

Jeremy