How We’d Generate Leads if We Started Today

Published 8 days ago • 1 min read

If we were starting an agency today - no network, no clients, no name - where would we begin?

That’s what we dig into in this week’s The AgencyHabits Podcast.

Nineteen years after building Barrel from scratch, we look back at what worked, what didn’t, and how we’d do it differently now. Spoiler: it’s less about tactics and more about how you show up.

Here’s what we cover:

Why your first 10 clients will almost always come from your personal network (and how to grow it intentionally).
The compounding power of referrals, and how to turn one happy client into three new ones.
How to think about platform partnerships, brokers, and events without losing focus.
Why in-person connection still beats any growth hack or ad channel.

If your agency is trying to build a more consistent pipeline, this episode brings you back to what really works, the compounding power of doing good work and staying connected.

👉 Listen to the episode here.

And if you haven’t yet, subscribe to The AgencyHabits Podcast, we release new episodes weekly on what it actually takes to build a durable agency business.

P.S.

If you found value in today’s insights, join us for the first AgencyHabits Knowledge Share on November 19th, 12:30 - 1:30 PM. It will be a live, open conversation for agency founders and leaders who want to learn, share, and grow together.

📌 Join The AgencyHabits Knowledge Share

Who are we?

Hi, we're Peter and Sei-Wook, co-founders of Barrel Holdings, a portfolio of agency businesses. We also run AgencyHabits, a resource for agency operators featuring lessons learned from our various agency businesses.

Thanks for being a subscriber. If you or anyone you know is interested in selling their agency business, please check out what types of agencies we're looking for and email hi@barrel-holdings.com.

Also: Peter posts a lot of agency content on LinkedIn, give him a follow!

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