Castell J.R. Barnes

🔴 How to Get 3-7 High-Ticket Clients Every Month! Tired of chasing low-paying clients? I’ve created a 7-step framework blueprint that shows agency owners exactly how to land high-ticket clients consistently. If you’re serious about scaling your agency and want to stop the feast-and-famine cycle, this is for you. Want the full guide? Just comment "framework" below, and I’ll send you the link! 🚀

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Selling your agency isn't just about finding a buyer. It's about preparation, strategy, and execution. An effective sale requires more than just a willing seller. You can ensure a successful sale by: • Engaging the right M&A advisor. ↳ Expert guidance can make all the difference. • Understanding the value of your business. ↳ Knowledge is power in negotiations. • Building a strong financial profile. ↳ Clean, transparent finances attract buyers. • Preparing your agency for the market. ↳ A well-prepared business sells faster and for more. • Maintaining growth during the sale process. ↳ Keep the momentum to preserve value. Think about it. An unassisted sale might save you some fees. But a guided sale can bring: — Higher offers — Smoother negotiations — Better outcomes So, to all the agency owners out there: Don't do it alone. Let your — Preparation — Strategy — Execution Define your success. And to all the potential sellers: Recognize the importance of expert help. Selling your agency isn’t just a transaction. It’s a strategic move for your future. ♻️ Repost if this resonates with you. 📌 Want to learn how to value your agency effectively? Download our guide: "How To Value Your Agency" for expert tips and strategies. Download here: https://lnkd.in/eMWkCewh #BusinessGrowth #MergersAndAcquisitions #AgencyLife #Leadership #BusinessSale #StrategicPlanning #WorkSmart

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Hot Newsletter Tip #42 Do this simple thing to find sponsors for your newsletter. Read your competitors' newsletters or letters that align with your niche. If they have sponsored ads, you will identify potential sponsorship opportunities. 1. Reach out to those who are a good fit for your newsletter. 2. Tell the sponsor you noticed they had advertised in 'XYZ' newsletter. 3. Give them a few bullet points on your metrics and why your audience would be a good fit for their offers. This is still a volume game (like any outreach), but you'll find it's more effective than a cold pitch. Easy wins.

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Email plays an important role in the marketing success of many small businesses. It’s cost effective, easy to get set up, and typically delivers the highest return on investment of any marketing channel. But what we can do in this article is look at some of the considerations you might want to take into account before you decide on the ideal email frequency for your business, and also review some stats from the Direct Marketing Association to see what the most common email frequency is. Read More: https://lnkd.in/eKzxQp3H #blog #emailmarketing #marketing 

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Scaling your agency isn’t about a massive budget. It’s about knowing how to do it right. Too many agency owners rely on referrals and think that’s enough. The reality? Referrals work—until they don’t. If your growth is based on someone else sending you clients, you’re not in control. That’s a problem. To scale, you need to take charge. Once you hit the ceiling with organic growth (and trust me, you will), acquisitions become the next step. Smart, strategic acquisitions. But it’s not about scaling for the sake of it. It’s about stacking value and making moves that add real strength to your business. Don’t wait until it’s too late. Get ahead of it now. Ready to talk strategy? Let’s connect.

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Most agency owners rely on referrals. That’s fine—until it’s not. If you’re not actively doing biz dev, you’re leaving serious money on the table. Here’s the reality: You can’t wait around for clients to find you. Build relationships. Create a consistent sales pipeline. Control your growth, don’t let it control you. Ready to stop leaving money on the table? Let’s talk about how to fix it.

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My agency has made over $5 Million this year. But it wasn’t always smooth sailing… Losing clients Dealing with revenue drops Getting suspended by Stripe The secret that helped me get through those times: Detachment. When you’re scaling, things WILL go wrong. You’ll lose clients. Platforms you depend on might suspend you. Biggest deals can fall through. The key is to let go of what you can’t control. In business, there’s this tendency to push hard against everything. We want control. We want certainty. But when you force things, you create resistance. I remember when I tried to push into a new market with an info product. It wasn’t my zone. It felt forced. But I kept at it until I realized that some things just aren’t meant to work. Sometimes, you gotta flow with the wave, not fight it. When something hits, you face a choice: Keep stressing over what happened… Or take a breath, accept the situation, and solve it. One makes you resentful, angry, and anxious. One solves the problem and pushes you forward. Don’t let emotions rule you. Don’t point fingers and blame anyone. Letting frustration or anger in only messes with your head. Stress usually comes from trying to control what’s beyond you. So recognize what you can’t change, deal with what you can, and keep moving forward. Any second you spend worrying about what you can’t control is a second wasted. Focus only on what’s in front of you - the things that you can control. Inputs. Not outputs.

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Things to do to improve your video content Kickassets Video shares some things to consider in creating a compelling video. Be competitive be on top, and have the edge over all your competitors. Be with us, Kickassets Video, and start improving your video content for your business.

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Here’s how to maximize your podcast revenue with strategic ad placements…💸 I interviewed Craig Hewitt, Founder of Castos and here are 3 things I’ve learned from interviewing him: 1. Why YouTube Will Dominate the Podcast Industry: YouTube will capture a significant portion of the podcasting market share within 5 years. This is based on YouTube's massive user base (2 billion+ monthly active users) and its growing focus on video podcasting. 📽️ In May, YouTube views were up 11% whilst total RSS traffic was down 3% month-on-month according to podtrac analytics 📈 2. Don’t Fear AI or You’ll Be Left Behind: Podcasters who adopt the mindset of leveraging AI tools can potentially increase their productivity, allowing them to create more content and focus on high-value tasks. Let us know if you want a GHA Marketing AI Podcast Toolkit 😉 3. If you are doing ads, here is how to 7.5x your revenues instantly: Programmatic ads (mass market, pre-recorded ads that are just inserted in your episode) generate on average $5-$8 CPM. Host-read ads are around $20 CPM, and a typical podcast episode might include 2-3 ad spots. Going for host-read and adding a couple of slots could 7.5x your revenues. 🤑 …and many more! 🎙️Watch the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/d_QSF8hV Thanks Craig for the great conversation! 🙂 🎧 Tune in to Podcast Gurus by GHA Marketing Ltd to catch the full episode!

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Here's how business owners are printing CASH $$$ with YouTube. 1. Create Action based videos (How To) The amount of search-based traffic you can attract with these videos is insane. They are also evergreen, meaning they will be getting views forever. Examples: • How To Grow On YouTube • How To Actually Get Followers On Twitter • How To Design GOOD Thumbnails 2. Case Studies Creating case studies will slowly nurture your audience convincing them over time to buy your service. This WORKS. Try it yourself 3. Educational Videos These videos need to be filled with pure value. It is you giving free value in exchange for nothing. Examples of these vids include: • Why you're not growing on Linkedin • Why Creating Content Will 10x Your Business • Why You Get No Views On YouTube P.S. If you're interested in growing your YouTube channel and booking from 10-30 calls a month from it DM me.

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I consult with 7 and 8-figure Agency Owners… because 99% of them can’t figure out the 3 Keys to Operational Excellence. Here they are: 1. Structure your Agency Correctly Most smaller agencies use a Shared Services model. Anyone in the company works with any client. This gets crazy quickly, and your team can't focus on any one client because they are always working on so many. Some agencies get smart and create "Service Lines" for the different services they sell. This allows your teams to focus on customers on a per service line basis, and removes a lot of bottlenecks. Side note: Most of these Services Lines suck & should be shut down, and smart agency owners will do just that. Then the last stage is Pods within each Service. A pod puts all the people needed to complete work for a group of clients in its own little business. They function as a team, and help each other out. But that’s only the first stage… 2. Align all Projects to your Vision & Long Term Priorities Now you’ve got Service Line and Pods and the business is feeling smoother… How do you move the business forward? What do you work on? Most agencies will use short term planning… like Quarterly OKRs or Rocks. But the issue with short term planning is that you see-saw between different projects and areas of the business. You're constantly looking for what to fix. You’re doing this because you have not created your Long-Term Vision, and you haven't thought about how to operationalize reaching those goals on a 3-5 year, 1 year, or Quarterly basis. Once you do this, your priorities become clear. You know exactly what you need to do and what projects you need to work on to reach your goals because you’ve literally mapped it out. Everything else, by definition, will get you farther from your goals – remove it. 3. Start tracking the right Metrics You’ve got Service Lines and Pods, and created your Vision, and have a plan to Operationalize it in the short and long term. How do you know if you’re going to plan? You’ve got to track it. Smaller agencies don’t really track any KPIs… And larger agencies track the wrong ones. Larger agencies tend to track lagging KPIs, like churn. Churn has already happened. You can’t affect it. You need to start tracking the leading KPIs that lead to low churn. Ask your clients what they would value from an ideal service… Then turn those things into 1-2 performance metrics and 3-4 process metrics, tracking them weekly: - 100% Client Rev to Target: Did you hit your clients goals? - 100% On-Time Delivery: Did you deliver everything on time to your clients? - 0% Revisions: Did you have to re-do any work pre client delivery? - 0% Errors: Did you have any errors post client delivery? If you track these metrics and consistently hit your Targets, and you know if you hit these metrics clients won’t leave you, you’ve just solved the final boss of operational excellence.   What am I missing?

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I bootstrapped an agency to eight figures and sold it. Here are the top five things I’d recommend if you’re trying to do the same. Invest in Tech - Build internal software to differentiate your service. - Use it to create unique capabilities and build proprietary walls around your offering. - Remember, you’re a “tech enabled service” not a SaaS. Go Deep on a Niche - Focus on becoming the best in the world at one thing rather than being decent at multiple things. - You’ll sharpen your teams’ focus and make it clear to the market who you are. Build a Capital-Efficient Growth System - Develop a growth model built on scalable, profit-focused channels. - Good options: founder-led thought leadership, outbound messaging, hyper-targeted paid media, partnerships, influencers - Test, double down, repeat. - Ruthlessly evaluate and double down/kill channels on a quarterly basis. Recruit Top Talent - Become highly skilled at recruiting world-class talent (find them, bring them in, retain them) - You need to get really good at this, then outsource most of it to a recruiter (internal or external) to scale. Constantly Innovate Inside Delivery - Recognize that all your services will eventually become commodities, either through competition or automation. - Stay ahead by constantly evolving and focusing on new services that add even more value. You don’t need funding to build something life-changing. Stick to the above, execute relentlessly and you'll eventually get there.

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David and Paul just hit a 𝘩𝘶𝘨𝘦 milestone: 100k downloads for their podcast Wealth Warehouse. Sounds crazy, but it's just strategy. It's the most efficient way to generate clients in 2024. • 0 paid marketing • 0 fluffy PR/Forbes articles • 0 outbound Dave and Paul hired us to help launch and produce their show, and they’ve been crushing it every week for 143 weeks and counting. We leveraged Podcast SEO, YouTube SEO, and LinkedIn – all working together to attract ideal leads. After 2.5 years, they hit 100,000 downloads, and 75% of their leads from the podcast. The Big Shift ↘️ Podcasters have been making it about the guest since 2001. The co-hosted podcast is dominating for a reason. Grab an opposite role (AM vs PM) / (mktg vs sales) (ops + design). Co-host with an industry leader, and add in solo/interview only when it's ideal. Prospects want to see YOU, not text. Personality is the antidote to AI content. A co-hosted show brings 2x the perspectives. 👇 We’re the only lead generation company that brings new customers to your inbox through LinkedIn and podcasting. Would you rather talk, or type? I'm one DM away. _________________ #B2B #podcastprinciples #podcastcoach #brandstrategy PS: This works for service-based finance, investing, insurance, or consulting businesses with predictable recurring revenue and a pre-mature (growing) niche.

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Have you ever had a great sales call with a prospective client only to have them ghost you afterward? We all have. Maybe you read them wrong. Or maybe this is the issue: You don't have an active presence on social media. Here's why that's important: We all research potential clients. But have you ever wondered what they do after the call? They're researching you! Or, at the very least, your company. It's the perfect time to hit them with the ol' one-two punch with content that proves you're a subject matter expert and that you've helped people like them succeed. You've missed your chance if you're not providing content that educates, entertains, tells a story, and shows your work. If someone Googles your name, what will they find? Dust bunnies and tumbleweeds or content that is helping your community? -- P.S.: I'm thinking about writing a newsletter that would give step-by-step instructions on one thing people can make for social media that week. Think of it as a cheat code with a free idea for content creation. Would you be interested in something like that? Let me know in the comments. 👇

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🚨 ALL of our podcasting templates are 50% off for Black Friday. Melody Johnson and I decided to do something a little different this year over at Your Podcast Planners. 1. Podcast Show Notes Template - $8.50 ✅ Includes a keyword tracker ✅ Episode description template 2. Podcast Media Kit - $9.50 Everything brands have ever asked us over the last four years is included in this beautifully designed Canva template. ✅ Includes a rate sheet ✅ One-page speaker sheet 3. Podcast Sponsorship Pitch Email Templates - $13.50 ✅ 8 Done-for-you pitch templates to reach out to brands in various scenarios so you always know what to say and how to say it. Did anything catch your eye? Links will be in comments.

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Perfect brand partnerships DO EXIST Here's my PSA - You are worthy of being compensated for your content - There are brands out there who will let YOU be YOU - You don't have to accept bottom of the barrel deals to get by I've worked with this brand on 6 contracts since 2021 and I received this email yesterday I can bring REAL VALUE to these brands and SO CAN YOU TOO! Now I just need the team to film their reactions next time haha #contentcreator #solopreneur #brandpartnerships

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Are you ready to invest in your brand and take it to the next level? 🙌🏼⁠ ⁠ Our new eBook covers everything from crafting a compelling story to mastering social media strategy. 📖✨️⁠ ⁠ Specifically, you will learn how to:⁠ ⁠ - Establish brand strategy & goals⁠ - Define your brand mission⁠ - Cultivate your brand story⁠ - Know your audience⁠ - Determine your brand personality⁠ - Create your visuals (logo, etc.)⁠ - Choose your color palette wisely⁠ - Select brand fonts⁠ - Document your brand identity⁠ - Implement your brand identity⁠ ⁠ 👉🏼 BONUS: Includes a social media content planner and 30 days of content ideas!✨️⁠ ⁠ It’s time to get the tools you need to create a powerful, lasting brand.⁠ ⁠ Get your copy today! 👇🏼 https://lnkd.in/eZEx7Uex ⁠

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Agency owners, if you’re struggling with client acquisition and feeling stuck trying to figure out what works... I have an offer for you that’ll be impossible for you to say no to. Just over a month ago, I launched a trial for a new 1-1 offer to help agencies sign 20 clients in 6 months - guaranteed. I’ve worked closely with a handful of agency owners, and the results have been incredible. We’ve had people already booking consistent meetings and signing new clients within only a few weeks! Here’s the thing - this offer isn’t for everyone. It’s been attracting high-calibre, driven agency owners ready to stop wasting time on tactics that don’t work and are serious about getting results. These are the people taking action and crushing it. Because of these promising results, I’ve decided to go all in. Today is launch day, and I’m opening this offer up to a few more agencies. So, if you’re at a point where you’re done throwing shit at the wall and want a proven plan with 1-1 personalised guidance to add 20 clients over the next 6 months… this is for you. Watch the demo video (link in the comments) to see how it works. Since this is a true 1-1 partnership, where we work together to build and execute your campaigns, spots are limited. I’m only taking on a few more agency owners ready to make real progress and leave the guessing behind. You’ll get everything needed to hit your agency goals: Proven systems, a complete infrastructure, copy-and-paste SOPs, 1-1 guidance, my personal feedback on your sales calls... and we’ll even work together to rewrite and optimise your campaigns when necessary. You’re not just getting advice and some “scripts” to copy and hope work - you’re getting a partner who is fully invested in your success. Now here’s where it gets better: In addition to the 20-client guarantee or your money-back guarantee… If you’re not earning at least £15k/month by the end of the 6 months, I’ll continue working with you 1-1 until you are. But if you’re a little tight on cash right now, or if you still don’t believe that I’ll be exhaustively in your corner… We’ll also split the initial investment - pay only half now, and the other half once you’ve achieved ROI. This way, I’m entirely invested in your success, and we’re in this together to guarantee you get results. If you get in, take action and don’t see results - that’s on me and I’ll give you your money back. It’s that simple. If you're ready to put in the work, there’s literally zero risk. If you’re "too busy", I’ll help you make everything hands-off while you still own the system. I’ve eliminated all the barriers to entry. The last step is on you. Are you ready to grow your agency? If so, this is your chance to build the agency you’ve always wanted - consistent clients, predictable growth, and a system that finally works. Watch the demo now and let’s make it happen. This is the 1-1 help you’ve been waiting for. Link in the comments below. For your growth, Reece