How I Built My Agency from Scratch: Lessons in Content, Outbound, and Automation

I walked away from a $20M staffing book of business to start my own agency. Most people thought I was crazy.

90 days in, here are a few things I’ve learned working with my first group of clients:

1. Content is the biggest differentiator.

Consistency is king. The content that performs best focuses on real pain points, targets a niche or a specific city, and feels raw, unscripted, and is lightly edited. Value-based content shows prospects you understand their problems and what makes you different. Just as important: engage with the people who engage with you. Reply to comments. Start conversations in the DMs. Build rapport with the people visiting your page. That’s where relationships start.

2. Outbound is alive and well if you do it right.

What works is personalized email and LinkedIn automation tied to real triggers such as funding rounds, open jobs, leadership changes, mergers, or new patents. The tools are all similar. The strategy is what matters. One simple but overlooked practice is calling engaged leads toward the end of the week. By then, you’ve built familiarity through content and touchpoints, so the calls feel warm and the conversion rates show it. Even in the age of automation, phone calls still work.

3. Internal automation is the hidden lever.
Client research, building call lists, entering data, and pulling reports can drain 20 or more hours a week. The right automations give that time back so producers can focus on revenue.

Content. Outbound. Automation.

That’s how smaller firms beat the big guys.