This Week's Agency Insights Every week, we share content to help you run your agency business. What's Top of Mind Profit ≠ Profit – There is a difference between lifestyle cash and business value. This breakdown shows you what’s real, what’s inflated, and what buyers care about. BX Studio Nominated for Webflow Enterprise Partner of the YearA huge congrats to Jacob Sussman and the BX Studio team (one of our Barrel Holdings agencies.) This nomination is hard-earned. Their focus, execution, and...
13 days ago • 1 min read
This Week's Agency Insights Every week, we share content to help you run your agency business: Things are working. That’s the risk. – Why calm can be more dangerous than chaos, and how to stay sharp when the business feels easy. Partnerships ≠ Pitching Commissions – Most commission pitches backfire. Here’s why, and how to flip the script to earn real trust (and intros). It’s like they’re from New York, but friendlier! Eastern European hires are known for being direct which is game changing if...
20 days ago • 1 min read
This Week's Agency Insights Every week, we share content to help you run your agency business: The Case for Saying No (on Purpose) – How unclear case studies, mismatched newsletters, and “we do it all” websites stall your sales. The $160K/Hour Sales Strategy for Founders. – A 5-stage sales architecture that maximizes founder authority and revenue per hour from Garrett Mehrguth. An A-player Ops Manager for $3,500/month? When you hire quality talent offshore from Eastern Europe or South Africa,...
27 days ago • 1 min read
This Week's Agency Insights Every week, we share content to help you run your agency business: Not Every Agency Sells for 8x (And That's Okay!) – Why headline multiples are a luxury-zip-code illusion, and the real levers that shape agency valuations in M&A. “Slow Down to Speed Up.” – Agency founder David Ly Khim shares what happened when Omniscient Digital paused growth to fix its ops, plus how they rebuilt culture, clarified ownership, and came back stronger. It’s like they’re from New York,...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
This Week's Agency Insights Every week, we share content to help you run your agency business: Are You Waiting Too Long to Make the Hard Call? – Why slow decisions on poor fits quietly drag your agency’s growth, and the 3-part framework to act ahead of the curve without killing culture. What Execs Are Actually Getting Paid - New comp data from $5M–$50M companies shows a surprising rise in profit-sharing, and how founders are rethinking incentives beyond stock options. It’s like they’re from...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
This Week's Agency Insights Every week, we share content to help you run your agency business: Most agencies are stuck spinning their wheels. - What focused discipline really looks like, and how it separates successful agencies from the rest. 16 hard truths from scaling to 8-figures. - Why utilization is dumb, EOS won't save you, and other contrarian lessons from Kyle Hunt that most agency owners learn too late. It’s like they’re from New York, but friendlier! Eastern European hires are known...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
This Week's Agency Insights Every week, we share content to help you run your agency business: No bites? No replies? You might not be sales-ready. - The assets most agencies skip (and why skipping them kills your pipeline). 5 red flags that tank agency pitches - Brand-agency relationship builder Rachel Huff breaks down the quiet deal-killers you might be overlooking. An A-player Ops Manager for $3,500/month? The JobRack team have helped hundreds of agencies, including Barrel, grow with...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
This Week's Agency Insights Before Barrel Holdings became a portfolio of seven specialized agencies, it was two founders building pro bono websites on weekends and learning everything the hard way. In the first episode of the AgencyHabits Podcast, we’re going back to the very beginning of how it all started: freelance projects, Barrel, spinning up new agencies… all of it. Peter and Sei-Wook take us all the way back and walk us through the full, unfiltered origin story. 🎧 [Listen to Episode 1...
2 months ago • 1 min read
This Week's Agency Insights Every week, we share content to help you run your agency business: Agency’s growing, but you’re still broke? – Why personal financial fragility is the silent killer of agency momentum and how to fix it. You'll never find the perfect client. - They will find you. This framework by Felix Velarde explains how. Resumes are worthless. These days, candidates just plug your job ad into ChatGPT and generate a résumé full of fluff. Instead of looking at resumes you need to...
2 months ago • 1 min read