#294 · how to justify a $10k/mo retainer in 2026

youtube ↗Offers

How does selling speed tole systems to PPC agencies work, and should I install it for every client of theirs?

Yeah, it's fairly straightforward. You just tell the prospect, 'Hey, I can help you generate XYZ more for your clients.' To do this, you need to run them through the discovery sequence I mentioned earlier: ask why they're on the call, walk them through their customer journey from first contact to last touch, and then point out how much money you could make them and how inefficient their current systems are. Then you say, 'No way—I can actually install a system like this for all of your clients that automatically contacts them. We can make your clients $300,000 a month more on a $300,000-a-month funnel, or they could spend half as much on ads or media buys to get the same result.' That's pretty bonkers, right?

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Related answers

youtube ↗Agency Operations

How do I deliver automations to clients?

Start with a kickoff call after the client pays, where you help them set up any needed platforms and possibly share your affiliate or partner codes for discounts or revenue. Then state that you’ll build everything in their environment so they retain full control if they stop working with you. Build using their tools (they give you credentials), and deliver the project with a video SOP that walks them through the system and serves as documentation for future maintenance. Use that video as a retention mechanism, then upsell related projects based on the knowledge gained from the current job. Mention that you can save them $500–$10,000 per month with a simple system, and invite them to a quick call if interested. The loop gets you in and prints money; you can pitch a monthly upsell or another one‑time project.

automation deliverykickoff callvideo sopretention
youtube ↗Agency Operations

Can we set up a call? Do you still offer one-on-one consulting?

Hey Nick, please answer the question. I built a lead conversion system, missed call, text back, whatever, and I'm writing paid ads behind it for mortgage brokers. Should I include paid ads? That's interesting. You're selling paid ads plus all of this, which is great—it's like a containerized package service. If you do, charge a media buy fee; a management fee is usually about a third of the media buy. For example, if someone spends $1,000 a month on ads, charge $300 a month. This lets you scale quickly and easily. I see Stephan's question is the same as the previous one, so I'll skip it. Tyler or Joel says thanks. Frank asks how to operate pass‑through credits for services like Appify, Chatp, and Instantly, whether the credits come out of your build, and how to set it up. No—I just get the client to pay for it. When I say pass through, the clients are paying for it. If you want to set it up, you have to do it manually, which sucks. You could update it once a month. If you have their Stripe, you could theoretically auto‑build using Stripe after calculating monthly token usage, but I don't think that's a good idea. The credits don't auto‑build; they stay manual. If you want to do pass‑through, tell the client how much the tokens cost at the end of the contract and then handle it. If you need it ongoing, you need a way to calculate token usage automatically. It's annoying, so I don't recommend it. Snapo thanks me for the free game. I record videos with OBS Studio; zooming or switching views is done live, not in post‑production, which cuts editing time and removes the need to publish to post. I've been building and documenting an automation as well. The fastest way to scale depends on where you are. If you lack demonstrated value, inbound won't work—you need proven results. I've built two agencies, one at $92K and another at $72K, and my agency will soon far exceed those numbers because I've grown the team. I've shown success doing what most people want: starting an agency in the agency space. People want to know how to do that, make money with it, bootstrap, and do cold emails. I'm good at all that, so when I talk about it it's like listening to a bank robber rate his top 10 heists, Lionel Messi rate his top 10 plays, or LeBron talk about dunking. I'm not claiming to be the LeBron of AI automation, but I am the LeBron of AI automation in terms of experience. If you don't have equivalent experience, inbound won't work. Your oldest video is 10 months old; if you've made less than $20K in 10 months (about $2K/month), you'd be better off starting with cold outreach instead of documenting your approach. I hate to say it, but that's the truth. The fastest way to scale really depends on your starting point. Hopefully I've made my point clear. I didn't start with YouTube videos; I made money first, got good at delivering value, then realized I could talk about it for hours, found it affordable to create content, gained authority, and started making videos—and it worked.

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youtube ↗Offers

How can I create a specific, scalable offer or value proposition for my custom consulting and development shop that works across any industry?

We already work with any industry on anything they need—AI systems, business software, automations. The simplest way to start productizing is not to invent a new service, but to look at what you’ve already delivered that clients liked and double down on that. Make a list of every project you’ve done over the past year, pull the email threads, project files, and note the industries and types of work. Patterns will emerge: you’ll see which systems you built most often and, more importantly, which ones generated the most revenue. Use that data to decide which services to package. Then, reach out to the clients you built those high‑value systems for, remind them of the results, and ask for referrals and repeat business. Reactivating past clients is a low‑effort way to generate upsells—typically a 3‑4% uptake rate, and I’ve seen 15‑20% when I first started. Identify the most profitable, least time‑intensive product you’ve created—often an automated follow‑up agent or similar—and turn it into a repeatable checklist or product. Streamline the delivery: ask if you really need three discovery calls or if a single call or a form will suffice, reducing time investment and allowing you to raise prices, which is pure leverage. In short, catalog your past work, find the high‑margin, low‑effort services, market them to similar clients, reactivate old customers, and refine the process into a sellable product.

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youtube ↗Agency Operations

Can you share more about how you onboard new clients, including the tools, process, and systems you use?

Sure. I walk a new client through their entire customer pipeline, starting with the very first touchpoint—whether that’s a referral, a PPC ad, a Facebook lead form, or another channel. I ask them to map out each stage their customers go through, from the initial contact to the final sale. Once someone opts in, we immediately send an email and an SMS, aiming to follow up within about 15 minutes. Quick response is critical; getting back to a prospect within a minute can boost your close rate three to four times. I then diagram the lead‑generation channels—cold email, PPC, referrals, trade shows, etc.—and outline how each feeds into the sales process. After the lead is qualified, we move into onboarding and service fulfillment, breaking down each step (creative, copy, Q&A, client approvals, retention) so the client knows exactly what to expect. I usually sketch this pipeline on a whiteboard during the call so we both have a visual reference for the entire workflow.

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