This Week's Agency Insights Every week, we share content to help you run your agency business. What's Top of Mind Most agencies overcomplicate partnerships. - Here’s the system we use across Barrel Holdings to keep it simple, consistent, and actually valuable. Pitch the team you actually have. - Pretending confuses people. Be real about your size, your people, and your strengths. What We're Organizing Agency life can feel like a silo. Let’s change that. On November 19, we’re hosting our...
5 days ago • 1 min read
We talk a lot about agency profitability. But when you strip the buzzwords and look at the spreadsheets, most founders are miscalculating their numbers, sometimes by 10–20%. This week’s episode of The AgencyHabits Podcast tackles that head-on. Peter and Sei-Wook break down how they actually assess agency health at Barrel Holdings: what 15% EBITDA really means, how they normalize owner salaries, and why SDE and EBITDA are two different conversations entirely. If you’re thinking about selling,...
8 days ago • 1 min read
This Week's Agency Insights Every week, we share content to help you run your agency business. What's Top of Mind Track fewer metrics. Make better decisions. - Stop tracking for the sake of tracking. This is how we cut through the clutter and focus on the numbers that move the business. “Looking forward to chatting” isn’t a sales strategy. - This post by Peter Caputa, CEO of Databox, breaks down how early-stage messaging unintentionally projects weakness, and how to shift your posture from...
12 days ago • 1 min read
Every founder starts somewhere, usually with more passion than process. For Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim, it was 2003. A Columbia dorm room. Two friends who loved building websites. $5,000 projects that felt huge at the time. That was the start of what would become Barrel Holdings, a family of specialized agencies built over two decades of trial, error, and slow, deliberate growth. In this episode of The AgencyHabits Podcast, Peter and Sei-Wook unpack: How they went from freelancing for...
15 days ago • 1 min read
Hi, Ivona here. This was supposed to hit your inbox Friday, but my laptop had other plans. Call it a gentle reminder that even in digital ops, human things happen. The upside? You’re getting this from a real human who deeply cares about delivering content that actually helps you run your agency better. Hope it fuels your Monday - enjoy! This Week's Agency Insights Every week, we share content to help you run your agency business. What's Top of Mind The Real Reasons Agencies Lose Clients (and...
16 days ago • 1 min read
If you’re new to The AgencyHabits Podcast, here’s where to start. These four episodes will give you a clear picture of how to build a stronger, calmer, and more profitable agency, without adding more chaos. Let’s start with the tactical ones: How We’d Generate Leads If We Started Our Agency TodayA breakdown of what’s actually working in 2025 (and has been working for the past 18 years.) How Much Cash Should Your Agency Keep on Hand?What “healthy” looks like when it comes to cash and why...
22 days ago • 1 min read
This Week's Agency Insights Every week, we share content to help you run your agency business. What's Top of Mind Ways to Deepen Client Relationships - From check-ins to debriefs to thoughtful intros, these simple habits helped us strengthen relationships (and grow revenue without chasing cold leads). The Future of Creative? It Doesn’t Look Like an Agency. - Distribution. Culture. Ownership. This move by Unwell Creative shows exactly where the power is shifting, and what agencies need to...
26 days ago • 1 min read
Most of the conversations that change your agency don’t happen in an office or on a Zoom call. They happen late at night, when another founder says out loud what you’ve been quietly struggling with: When to hire a PM. How to fire a client without blowing up your team. Why growth feels like chaos even when revenue is up. That’s why we launched The AgencyHabits Podcast. It’s candid, real stories from operators who’ve been in the trenches: the mistakes, the pivots, and the frameworks that...
29 days ago • 1 min read
This Week's Agency Insights Every week, we share content to help you run your agency business. What's Top of Mind The Org Chart Exercise Every Founder Should Do - Most agencies outgrow their structure before their talent. This 20-minute exercise will help you spot overload, clarify ownership, and plan for growth. Founders often know how to launch, but not how to scale. - This POV from a seasoned CEO breaks down why real scale means rewiring how you think about customers. What We're Talking...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read