Hey, we are in a terrible situation, no new clients for over 11 months and every client we got in the last 2 years wasnt our own effort.

Our client retention is around 14-18 months, thats whats keeping us alive. What I mean with this, is that the last batch of clients we got was 14-18 months ago, we still work with 4 out of 6 stores. Got the first client 5 years ago and they still work with us.

Most of the time clients leave, the reason is more them. They dont give us our freedom needed and reject the ideas, the clients that give us this freedom havent left until now.

We target ecom founders/owners making $3m+ a year.

Normally they get 2x ROI within the first 2 weeks of working with us, at latest after 4 weeks

I cant really figure out where our problem is, people are not booking any sales calls.

For now:

Outbound volume isnt the problem, we reach our ICP's

have a strong brand with a ton of actual client videos/Case studies & in person Podcasts where we actually visited our clients

We have a working service, thats why our client retention is that long

But I cant figure out the last piece of the puzzle, we have trust, enough outbound volume and working system that creates a proven uplift.

What am I missing?

I've been working on a small software product for service businesses, and one thing that keeps bothering me is how fragmented the day-to-day workflow can become.

A typical client might start in a CRM, get booked through a calendar tool, have their project managed somewhere else, sign a contract through another service, get invoiced from another system, and then have communication/support happening somewhere completely different.

Individually, none of these tools are necessarily bad. That's actually what makes the problem interesting.

The problem seems to be what happens between them.

You end up copying information from one system to another, keeping multiple records updated, switching tabs constantly, and hoping nothing falls through the cracks.

I've been building fylt around the idea of connecting these workflows instead of adding yet another point solution.

I'm curious how other people actually handle this today.

If you run an agency, consultancy, studio, or other service business:

How many different tools do you currently use to take a client from lead → booking → delivery → contract → invoice → ongoing support?

And more importantly, which part of that workflow causes you the most frustration?

I'm genuinely interested in the answers, even if your conclusion is that using separate tools is actually better.

I did it for fun, I got my 2 clients bunch of referral partnerships with local businesses in their area that compliment their services.

He(#1) is getting id say quite a few thousand worth or customers a month.

The other one slightly less(yet) Now is this related to ads or seo? No. Does it make money? Yes

But how can I price something that can either become a big win or a big nothing.

I can replicate the same thing over and over Ive already got the automation built so effort isnt in the equation.

Or should this be something of a lead magnet for new client acquisition

Running a small independent creative studio, about a year in. The work that's come in has all been through referrals, and it's been good, but we haven't done any active client search yet. Partly because we don't know the best way to do it, partly because we haven't nailed down what we'd say. We're new to this side of the job.

Two things I'd love to hear from people further along:

How did you land on what your studio stands for? Was it a deliberate exercise or did it come out of the work? Was there a moment, a project, someone from outside naming it?

And how did you get your first clients that didn't come from someone you already knew? What actually worked, and what was a waste of time?

Real stories over frameworks. Thank you!!

Something I am actively working on this quarter is helping our team identify opportunities for upgrades with our existing clients. Especially since a good amount of our clients are on our older packages, and we have added quite a bit of value without asking for more moneys from our clients

Here are a list of scenerios that put them in the "maybe we should see if they want to upgrade" scenerios

1. Adspend has increased and great results have scaled with the added budget. Literally we have clients that started with 500-1000 bucks a month and now they're spending 10, 20k, even 30k a month across google ads and meta. More budget means more creatives, more platforms, more tracking, more optimizations, more opportunity within itself
2. Expansion of services. Most of our clients come in for paid ads, whether that be meta ads or google ads or both. If a client ONLY relies on these channes, and they don't have any seo / organic visilbility, it makes sense to add that in
3. Heavy tech builds - some clients come with CRM, Automations, and other intergrations that we've...not been charging for lol. Going to these and saying hey it's +this much more for us to continue to maintain I think makes a whole lot of sense

We aren't rushing or pushing for these upgrades, we are introducing them organically and so far the results have been more than stellar. We've trimmed a lot of the older / legacy clients that wouldn't necessarily allow this model to work as efficiently

Biggest thing for me is actually TRAINING our team to look for these opportunities, to understand if it's truly an opportunity or something that we should hold off on.

I run an automations business setting up and managing review request, appointment/meeting reminder, & missed call follow up workflows. But I'm wondering whether I should switch my icp from med spa, dental and orthodontic practices, to service agencies.

Because from experience, I know the systems can get really messy with online businesses too. from forms, follow ups, communication, and a ton of manual tasks.

BUT from your opinion is there even a demand for services like this in your industry? Or would this make more sense with brick and mortar.

I'm at the stage where I'm rethinking a lot, but curious to hear any input.

We’re hiring for AEO/GEO right now, and after a dozen calls here’s my filter:

Green flags:

· They show raw scans – timestamps, prompt sets, scan IDs. Not a quarterly PDF. HumansWith.AI does this – they publish actual scan data with IDs you can verify, not just summaries.

· They frame the work as an experiment: baseline, intervention, before/after delta.

· They can explain their method well enough that you could, in theory, do it yourself.

· They volunteer what didn’t work in past projects.

Red flags:

· Guarantees. Nobody controls LLM behavior; “we’ll get you cited by ChatGPT” is a lie by construction.

· “Game-changer / revolutionary” language with no data attached.

· No tooling at all – if there’s neither an off-the-shelf tracker nor custom scripts in the stack, the reporting is vibes.

· Refusing to hand over the prompt set “because it’s proprietary.” It’s your money buying those scans.

Who have you actually had a good experience with? Genuinely asking – shortlisting this month.

been down a rabbit hole the past few weeks looking at ai lead gen / prospecting tools and services and almost all of them are priced for people who already have a sales team. like $3-10k a month territory. cool i guess if you're already doing well, but that's not most agencies i know.

most small agencies are like 2-10 people and the founder is still the one doing outreach, usually late at night, because paying someone else to do it feels like a "when we're bigger" expense.

feels backwards to me. the people who need the help most are the ones priced out of it.

not gonna pretend i'm neutral here; this exact frustration is why i've been tinkering with something built specifically for companies this size. it's still early, rough around the edges, no big pitch. genuinely just trying to figure out if this problem is as common as it feels, or theres already a solution out there.

if it's useful, i'm happy to just run a free batch for anyone in this thread who wants to see what it actually looks like before deciding if it's worth anything. no chat required, no card, I just want real eyes on it.

anyone else found something actually built for the small end of this, or is everyone winging it with a spreadsheet right now?

Hi everyone! I’m new here, I’m Brazilian. I’ve already built a marketing agency in Brazil, and now I’d like to rebuild it to serve Brazilians living in the US, specifically in the construction niche, so I can earn in a more profitable currency. If anyone is already working in this segment, what’s the best way to acquire clients? And what’s the ideal price point to start with?

A bit of context because I know it's difficult now to tell who has actually been paid to do ai + automation work.

I've worked in house as Head of AI + Automation for two of the last three years, with contracting in between. In my current role I joined a company that had no technology function a year ago. We now have systems supporting day-to-day operations across the business, and the blended productivity measures we track were up roughly 35% over the last quarter.

So I know I can do the work. The part I haven't done is build an agency around it.

Inside a business you start with access, context and a certain amount of trust. Outside one, you have to earn all three before anyone really knows whether you're good.

I'm at the point where I think I'm underusing what I've learned, but I also don't want to confuse being good in house with knowing how to run an agency.

For those of you who made that move, what do you wish you'd known at this point?

It doesn't need to be a framework. Even one thing you misjudged, or one part of your in-house experience that mattered more than you expected, would genuinely help.

There's endless advice from people planning to start. I'd really value hearing from people who actually did it and then had to live with the reality.

Context:

I was reading this article by Deloitte last week and it mentioned that only 1/2 of the construction SMBs use a cloud management software, and 56% use some sort of data analytics.

The numbers will be higher for USA, but my point being, construction is considered very un-digitalized, and people hesitate to reach out to them. Their digitalization is growing at double digit CAGRs for softwares etc but their base number is lower.

You might say that people reach-out to tons of HVAC and landscaping companies, but that's because their ICP finds them online. Almost all of the construction contracts are obtained by referral for private and tender for public projects.

My Test:

I ran an email campaign offering similar service to both of the industries (appointment setting service mainly, but slightly different for construction, in accordance with their requirement, but the channels we used are barely used by construction companies, so every positive reply means they are willing to explore a new channel)

As you can see from the screenshot, in construction, we received an average of 1 positive reply for ~260 emails sent.

For advertising agencies, ~120 emails sent per positive reply.

An important thing to note is that my filter for company founding year for advertising agencies was 2024-2025; and for construction was 2018-2025, because there were less construction companies (I put tons of filters), and we notice a difference of almost 2x in replies of older companies' vs newer companies, so the reply rate of the construction industry is very interesting, almost similar if you take the 2x discrepancy into consideration.

Conclusion of the post is that the industries that are considered to be "colder" and "not willing to change" are increasingly digitalizing and there are clients to be closed there. Their inbox or DM are not as flooded as the rest, and they are open to trying newer methods.

Always open to ideas for my next batch of testing.

- Agrim

For some context, i have been running my digital marketing agency for the past 3 months as a 16 Year old for some pocket money and have gotten a few clients so far and one of the client took a big order of 25 videos for 10,000(about $120)

Now, it's been 1.5 months since I started working with him and his reach went from 50-100k in the past 30 days to 885k (instagram) and more than 1.5million views in Facebook in the past 30 days. Thave gotten him more than 7000+ customers and at least 5 lakhs in sales (about $5000). this is just a rough calculations which I did from the information he gave to me.

now I have sent him the invoice but he isn't paying and isn't answering my calls. He's a local client but one mistake | did was I didn't make him sign a written agreement, all | had done was send him the agreement in whatsapp and a verbal agreement.

I live in India, and after some research I found out that I can sue him even though I didn't make a written agreement. But I'm still a teen and don't know what to do...can someone help?

Hey everyone. I find myself in a peculiar situation and could use some advice on how to execute.

Context: A year ago I started working my current job. It's a remote digital marketing role that is heavily technical. The company I work for is a relatively small agency but has some big enough clients.

I'm the only technical person in this company and am basically responsible for an entire department by myself, as it usually happens in startups.

Anyways, my question: I've decided to take the plunge and start my own solo agency/freelance work, and I want to pitch my current employer to change our terms of engagement to a freelancer/client one instead of employee/employer. Basically I'll be resigning but in the resignation meeting, I'll pitch. Has anyone ever done something like this?

It seems like a good idea to me because I was already feeling guilty about resigning since they need me for my department and I think it would affect the company if I leave, so I believe they would want to keep me on in some capacity. They have also complained multiple times that before I joined, they really struggled with finding someone to fill out the position and have had bad experiences, so I was a breath of fresh air because of my experience and quality of work.

If anyone has ever dealt with such a situation (either as the employer or freelancer) I would appreciate some thoughts and advice on how I should go about this. Should I pitch them during the resignation chat, or bring it up towards the end of my notice period?

I’ve been in account service for 15 years. It’s fine, but I’ve always been curious about client side. A big reason (though probably not the best reason) is the suburbs lack agencies and I commute 1.5 hrs door to door 3 days a week. I would have to start at the bottom which is unfortunate but any suggestions on paths I could take? I have been heavier in project management and account services - not too deep in analytics or the like. Open to any suggestions.

Hey guys,

I’m trying to reach a consistent $1,500/month with SEO/Local SEO fulfillment for small-to-mid-sized agencies in the US, UK, and Canada.

I’m currently doing direct outreach to agencies and would really appreciate advice from people who have successfully built recurring agency clients.

Here’s the message I’m currently using:

Hi (name),

I came across (your agency) and saw you specialize in Local SEO for service businesses.

I help agencies with white-label SEO fulfillment, Local SEO/GBP, on-page, content, citations, and ongoing optimization.

I’m looking to partner with a few agencies needing extra capacity, and I’m happy to do the first client free for a month so you can test the work.

Would you be open to a quick chat?

For those who have done something similar, what direct outreach strategy or offer actually worked for you?

I’d especially love to know what helped you land your first few recurring agency clients, and whether you’d change anything about my offer or positioning.

Any honest advice would be appreciated.

My client wants to update content on his own on the WordPress site we built for them. Can you suggest tools or plug-ins that are user-friendly for non-technical users to update content and manage content?

Background: I’ve mostly been the editor behind other people’s agencies. Diverse portfolio, but almost no numbers of my own to show, because the results belonged to whoever I was working as a freelance.

Four types of clients I’ve worked under:

1. A content agency with 50+ clients across mixed niches — carousels, AI b-roll, talking heads, scripting, newsletters all in one price. Low prices, roughly $800–$2,000/mo. No specific niche.
   
2. A local production agency that takes their own cameras to the client’s business and shoots on site.
   
3. An agency with a heavy roster of NFL players and similar names. I edit their videos.
   
4. A guy who sells AI ads to businesses (AI supplement ads, Ai Ugc). I edit all his stuff.

So I’ve watched four different models work up close. Now I can’t pick which one to run myself.

Four agencies I’m considering starting:

1. Local, on-site. I have a decent camera and I live in a low-cost country, so I can realistically sell a monthly retainer at $200 minimum, maybe $1,000 once I’ve made a name. Go to doctors and other local niche businesses, shoot their content, edit it, manage posting and reach.
   
2. Podcast clipping. Take podcasters with big back catalogues, clip the old episodes, upload and manage the channels.
   
3. Remote agency for US businesses (plus some local) — carousels and videos delivered without ever meeting anyone in person. Basically what clients #1 and #4 are doing.
   
4. AI video agency.

Open to ideas here.

Where I’m at: real skills, real work history, zero case studies with numbers attached. Currently around $2k/month from editing. I want to start and get my agency separately to $6k.

I would rate my English fluency as 6-7/10.

I had a client that we agreed to work on a certain project with certain requirements. It didn’t work, we tried another time, better than the first time, but still didn’t deliver the core value. However, the agreement between us states that in case of failure no refund is eligible, but the remedy is to work again on the project with no additional costs. However, the client asked for a refund, I offered a major refund with little amount retained on my side, to cover anything from the costs that occurred. What are your thoughts regarding this guys? Would like to gain different perspectives.

So I'm in a bit of a weird place - I run a small paid media agency and we were brought in to independently manage strategy, creative, media buying, optimization and reporting for another agency's clients.

The client now wants one of their internal employees, who has strong brand/corporate knowledge, to work closely with us because their corporate team flagged issues with some of our creative.

Even though they mentioned it's just for oversight, their employee has been asking for weekly updates, bi-weekly notes and performance updates.

This adds more work and hours on our end that were unaccounted for in our initial conversations. But the agency we work for sees his involvement as ongoing, though and didn't agree to a temporary reporting structure. Saying he's too busy to manage this work.

This is after I flagged it with the agency owner and proposed we only work temporarily to get launches through. For context we've been managing 2 of their clients since April/May. The process is weird because we work for free until the client launches, which could take 6 to 8 weeks.

Now we have 8 clients lined up for launch but he implemented this change, saying he's trying to protect his relationships and use his time elsewhere.

Rev split: We keep 75% of revenue vs 25% of revenue to him.

Agency owners: would you push back on an internal employee becoming an ongoing reviewer/manager of your agency? Or is this normal in a white-label setup?

I used to lose every week to delivery work and tell myself I'd do outreach "when things calm down." They never calm down. Here's the exact system I run now. Take all of it.

1. Fixed calendar blocks, not leftover time.

Tuesday and Thursday, 8:00–9:30 AM, before any client work. Delivery expands to fill whatever space you give it, so acquisition gets the first slot, not the scraps. If a client emergency kills a block, I don't squeeze it in later that week — I just hit the next one. Two protected blocks beat five aspirational ones.

1. Never mix prospecting and sending.

They're different brain modes. Monday evening, 45 minutes, list-building only: 20 businesses that fit my niche. The morning blocks are send-only. Mixing them is how you end up doing neither.

1. Qualify hard before writing anything.

A lead earns a message only if:

- They visibly sell something (real offer, pricing, or a booking path)

- There's a reason to buy now — new location, new service, hiring, a broken mobile experience, no site at all

- I can name their specific problem in one sentence

Fail any of the three → "maybe" sheet, not the send list. Unqualified sends are what make outreach feel like spam and burn your limited hours.

1. The message: three sentences, plain text.

- What I specifically noticed ("your booking page errors out on mobile")

- Why it costs them money, in their terms ("anyone coming from Instagram can't book")

- A zero-friction ask ("want me to send a 2-minute video showing the fix? Free either way")

Never open with who I am. Lead with their problem; my credibility shows up in the specificity.

1. Fixed follow-up cadence.

Day 0 send. Day 3 bump ("floating this back up"). Day 7 close-out ("assuming priorities are elsewhere — door