Case Studies
The proof is in the profits
We get it: We’re not the first to claim we can help you grow, so don’t take it from us. We’ve taken businesses from six figures to multiple six and seven figures with our signature Mighty Pod Model method. No stress, no overwhelm, just freedom and flexibility. Take it from them instead.
Helping an agency owner become more profitable (and less stressed)
“It’s hard to find someone with Audrey’s level-headedness and breadth of knowledge. It’s like having a business partner—without giving her half your money.”
James Jensen
An agency operating like a freelancer
A seasoned creative director, James started Atom Studio with a passion for design. But from day one, he ran his agency like a freelancer: Day to day, as the work filtered into his inbox. He wasn’t thinking strategically, like what his capacity was, who to hire when, how to onboard them, or what to pay them. So, when the work piled up and he outsourced to contractors, those projects didn’t always operate at a profit.
Helping an agency owner become more profitable (and less stressed)
James Jensen
“It’s hard to find someone with Audrey’s level-headedness and breadth of knowledge. It’s like having a business partner—without giving her half your money.”
Losing money (and his mind) on projects
The thing about losing money on projects is knowing how to fix it—and James didn’t. Project to project, he couldn’t pin down what was happening that was preventing him from being profitable consistently. A chance encounter at a networking event, and James decided to hire us to find the fix.
Looking at his numbers, we could see Atom Studio’s profitability was down, even though its revenue was up, in large part because James was hiring contractors at rates he couldn’t afford. The result? He was losing money and his mental health, stressing about making ends meet for his business and his family. He needed to learn how to hire and manage a team in a way that wouldn’t eat into his profits. And, with a single client making up 50% of his revenue, he needed to diversify his client list for a more sustainable, future-proof business model.
Helping an agency owner become more profitable (and less stressed)
“It’s hard to find someone with Audrey’s level-headedness and breadth of knowledge. It’s like having a business partner—without giving her half your money.”
James Jensen
Getting the agency owner out of freelance mode
First, we got James to start thinking about the future of Atom Studio and what he wanted for his agency. With a clear vision, we were able to identify a team structure that would support that vision. Of course, a structure is nothing without a plan, so we took his internalized knowledge of Atom Studio’s processes and started documenting the agency’s systems in a project management tool to streamline onboarding. And speaking of onboarding: No more overpriced contractors. James started searching for designers and developers whose rates reflected their abilities and experience.
Then there was the leadership training. We talked hiring, communications and sales to strengthen James’ confidence as owner of the agency and leader of his team. We covered everything from how to interview and hire, how to communicate with his team, and how to stop underselling himself and charge his value.
Helping an agency owner become more profitable (and less stressed)
“It’s hard to find someone with Audrey’s level-headedness and breadth of knowledge. It’s like having a business partner—without giving her half your money.”
James Jensen
Triple the profit, none of the stress
First things first, James more than tripled his profit in a single year—on less than double the revenue! He grew his team from occasional contractors to four reliable full- and part-time employees. He says if someone had said a year ago he’d have four team members, he would have been freaking out—but when you go about things in the right order, you’re never in a place of risk.
Before hiring us, James never really thought of himself as a leader. Now? He has the confidence to own that title and make the decisions required of a leader. Most importantly, if you ask James, he’ll tell you he’s way less stressed. He works fewer hours and isn’t pulling his hair out about turning a profit because he’s buffered time (and money) into every project. Even if a project goes sideways, he knows he and his business will still be okay.
Helping an agency owner become more profitable (and less stressed)
“It’s hard to find someone with Audrey’s level-headedness and breadth of knowledge. It’s like having a business partner—without giving her half your money.”
James Jensen
With processes and people in place, and the agency at capacity, James has the privilege of hiring more full-time employees to scale his profitability and only saying yes to the work he wants—work that, in his words, will make a dent in the world. We’re with you, James.
Make dent in the world
*I take my clients’ confidentiality seriously. Ben is a pseudonym.
When Ben* started his business, he wasn’t even thinking about selling it. He just wanted a job that played to his passions and paid the bills. He hadn’t landed the dream job he’d applied for, so he created his own job: The founder / CEO / creative director of a branding and web design studio. Later, he layered in paid advertising and marketing-communications consultation and implementation, eventually zeroing in on a health care niche. With offerings that needed to be streamlined and three team members that needed to be coordinated, Ben was treating his business as a studio when he needed to be treating it like an agency.
An agency mistaking itself as a studio
Helping an agency owner empower his team—and position his business for acquisition
Helping an agency owner empower his team—and position his business for acquisition
Too little direction for a team to self-start
By the time we met, Ben had been in business for five years. He had a solid client base and steady revenue under his belt, but he wanted to refine his service offerings—and, with a baby on the way, he wanted to free up more time to spend with his growing family, too.
Trouble was: Ben’s team relied on him for all of the answers. They weren’t empowered with the clarity they needed to take initiative, so they were always waiting for instructions—his instructions. Ben was the bottleneck. Of course, Ben didn’t want to slow down his team. In fact, he didn’t want to manage his people or projects in the first place, but he didn’t want to be handcuffed to processes either. He felt like his hands were tied. But without documented processes and communications conventions, he would never be able to step back from managing the day-to-day of his business.
Helping an agency owner empower his team—and position his business for acquisition
Systems that took the owner out of management mode
First things first, we got to work standardizing Ben’s service offering and defining consistent processes for delivering those services. We refined the processes to rely less on Ben and more on his team—including clear responsibilities and communications conventions for his team to follow. Ben stopped hiring less experienced people and started hiring more experienced people, including a hands-on management team, and we defined their roles with clear KPIs to set them up for success. We strategized a system for training people into the processes and, most notably, the systems we created for Ben’s seven-figure business were simple—the secret to successful uptake and long-term scalability.
Helping an agency owner empower his team—and position his business for acquisition
The acquisition of a lifetime
In short, we made Ben’s service delivery scalable, creating capacity for him to triple his business, and we built a management team that enabled Ben to go on a month-long vacation to Europe with his family. What’s more, we created the systems and processes an acquiring company would need to see to have confidence the business could run without the owner—and see they did. An acquiring company bought Ben’s business in 2021. Thanks to his handsome payout, he doesn’t have to work another day in his life if he doesn’t want to.
Helping an agency owner empower his team—and position his business for acquisition
Freedom to exit and ideate
Now that the business is acquired, Ben will be exiting the company in 18 months. In the meantime, he’s overseeing the transition, which includes career-advancing potential for his team thanks to the size of the acquiring company. And when Monday comes around and his kids say, “Daddy, don’t go to work!”, he won’t. He’ll stay at home to spend the day with them—and work on his next business idea.
In their words
Scaled her agency and took maternity leave.
Andréa Jones
CEO, OnlineDrea
Scaling her income without scaling her hours
Jennifer Turner
Founder, Gemini
Increased our revenue by 300% over last year
I have a roadmap to scale my business without me doing the service delivery.
Working with Audrey is the best thing I’ve done for myself and my business. I came to Audrey with expertise in my field but needed support to build a multiple six-figure and beyond service business that didn’t depend on just me to deliver the service and support my clients.
I was a consultant who wasn’t clear on how to leverage my business to serve more people. Today, I have a multiple six-figure business that I can scale, and we are on track to triple our revenue this year.
Audrey’s process delivers, and she is laser-focused. Her genius is knowing how to get to the root of challenges instead of band-aide approaches. With her support, we are on track to get to seven figures with confidence and clarity. We’ve increased our revenue by 300 percent over the previous year.
With Audrey’s process-driven thinking and laser-sharp strategic advisory, we clarified and nailed down my service-based intellectual property, positioning and messaging, and streamlined our offer.
Building a business can feel daunting, but not with Audrey. She breaks things down into a roadmap and gives you exactly what you need at the right time, all done in a way that eliminates overwhelm.
She’s come alongside me to show me how to lead my team confidently and focus on the actual value-added activities to grow myself and my business. I’ve found myself doing things with ease that just six months ago I found highly daunting.
Working with Audrey is the best investment you can make for your business. If you need a caring guide with a proven track record, she is it. She is the secret advantage you need by your side.
She has a unique genius for laser-sharp focus on the right things at the right time and simplifying business growth.
Harriet Davis
OWNER, HD CONSULTING
Bill Downie
CEO, PEAR Agency
I’ve felt the immediate benefits of having fewer client project on my plate.
Audrey is a leader in organizational growth!
If I was to grow my agency’s team on my own, I know I wouldn’t have done it the way Audrey coaches — and that would have held me back, slowed my growth and limited where my business could go (and how quickly).
Audrey helped me develop my expertise and understanding of processes to grow the business. We have been working together to help structure our small consulting business, implement change, shape processes, and our ways of thinking.
Audrey empowered me to determine the best roles to grow my team and led me through creating a SYSTEM to teach my new hires how to think and do like me (I didn’t believe it was possible until now!).
Not only have I grown as an individual, but my team and the company have also seen impactful organizational and development changes.
I’ve felt the immediate benefits of having fewer client project tasks on my plate. Now I have more free time to dedicate to sales, relationships and refining our internal processes to better serve our clients — all without sacrificing profit
If you are a small business or a start-up environment like us, I highly recommend working with Audrey. She is a leader in organizational growth, process, and idea development for your business.
NATALIE SMITH
GRANTED CONSULTING
ALLEA GRUMMERT
DUETT
Hiring Audrey as a coach was the single most important decision I’ve made for my business.
Closed $80K in new biz by the second month of working together.
She adds value well beyond her fees. She has taught me how to think more strategically about what I’m trying to achieve, and how I’m spending my time. She pushes me outside my comfort zone (in a good way) and encourages me to think bigger.
Audrey's strategies have always found success for me, my business, my team, and my clients. I think of her as part of my team, and feel lucky for it.
I closed $80K by the second month of working with Audrey. Her process helped me dial in and focus on what matters to growing my business. I would highly recommend Audrey to anyone looking to grow their business in a sustainable, and profitable way.
REBECCA INNES
FOUNDER, RIC
James Jensen
Atom Studio
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