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 you’ve struggled with passive team members that don’t speak up. The right team members will challenge bad ideas and suggest better ones, music to any agency owner’s ears. Find out where and how to hire them in:

➡️ JobRack Offshore Hiring Playbook ⬅️

[This is a sponsored section - we're offer select partnership opportunities if any our Barrel Holdings agencies are a happy paying customer of your product/service. Email us at hi@agencyhabits.com]
The Business Development Collection is a curation of real, winning proposals and SOWs from Barrel Holdings agencies along with our New Outreach Message Kit, Biz Intake Guide and Agency Lead Tracker. Now available for purchase.
🎧 NEW: How much cash is enough? – The 1–6 month rule, retainer float, and what to do when reserves start running dry.

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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Referrals, Red Flags, and Revenue Goals

This Week's Agency Insights Every week, we share content to help you run your agency business. What's Top of Mind Client Work = Lead Gen. But only if... – Referrals don’t start with pitches, they start with the clients you already have. Here’s how to turn delivery into your most reliable source of leads. Want to Close More by EOM? Here’s the Playbook. - From call > email to "paranoid optimism," these 9 habits helped one team scale from $1M to $10M ARR, and finish every quarter strong. What...

6 days ago • 1 min read

Profit ≠ Profit. Ops > Hustle

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

What kills more deals than bad pricing?

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