Libsyn Directory

How We’d Generate Leads If We Started Our Agency Today | EP 5

Release Date: 08/12/2025

The Six Levers of Profitable Client Engagements | EP20

The AgencyHabits Podcast

Running an agency is an exercise in risk management. In this episode, hosts Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim break down the most significant threats that can jeopardize an agency's survival. They move beyond daily annoyances to focus on the high-impact risks that can truly put a business in danger. Using a simple risk matrix framework, Peter and Sei-Wook categorize and explore nine critical vulnerabilities, from founder burnout and partner conflict to client concentration and strategic misalignment. They provide actionable advice on how to identify, prepare for, and mitigate each risk, sharing...

Learning From Other Agency Owners | EP19

The AgencyHabits Podcast

Great agencies are not built in isolation. In this episode, Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim explore the transformative power of community and peer learning for agency founders. The hosts share their personal journey from working in a silo to actively seeking mentorship and joining dedicated communities, revealing how these connections helped them avoid blind spots, gain crucial perspective, and accelerate their growth. Peter and Sei-Wook break down specific communities that have been instrumental to their journey, including Bureau of Digital, Society of Digital Agencies (SoDA), and Collective 54....

Why Agencies Rely on Referrals But Few Treat It as a System | EP18

The AgencyHabits Podcast

Most agencies say they rely on referrals, but few treat them as a system. In this episode, Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim dismantle the "hope-based" approach to referrals and lay out a strategic framework for building a consistent pipeline. Drawing from the book The Referral Code, they redefine referrals as a transfer of goodwill and share actionable tactics for intentional referral generation. Peter and Sei-Wook cover how to identify the right people to ask, the critical importance of timing your ask within a "state of appreciation," and how to craft effective, open-ended questions. They also...

How Agencies Should Think About and Manage Risk | EP 17

The AgencyHabits Podcast

In this episode, hosts Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim break down the six fundamental levers that drive profitability across all client engagements, whether you run fixed-fee projects, retainers, or long-term service programs. Drawing from real challenges within their own portfolio at Barrel Holdings, Peter and Sei-Wook provide a practical framework for diagnosing and fixing margin compression. They start by defining gross margin and then explore each lever in detail: from pricing and scoping to staffing, engagement design, scope management, reusable IP, and the role of automation and AI. The...

Scaling Your Agency Beyond $2M | EP 16

The AgencyHabits Podcast

In this episode, Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim dissect why agencies hit this wall and what you can do to break through. They explain how founder-centric systems that work at a smaller scale become the primary constraint to growth, leading to breakdowns in client delivery, team management, and financial visibility. The hosts share actionable solutions, from improving onboarding and implementing debrief processes to strategically hiring for your weaknesses and deepening financial rigor. They also introduce the Agency Systems Playbook, a framework of five core systems that drive a scalable agency....

How Agencies Can Be Better at Marketing Themselves | EP 15

The AgencyHabits Podcast

In this episode, hosts Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim tackle a common agency pitfall: treating marketing as a short-term, reactive effort only when leads dry up. They argue for a fundamental mindset shift, framing marketing as a long-term investment in reputation and awareness, similar to the compounding benefits of consistent exercise. Peter and Sei-Wook first outline the "basics" of agency marketing: from social posts and case studies to newsletters and events, and then dive deep into six specific, unconventional examples. They share their own experiences with a 24-hour website challenge and...

[REPLAY] Why & How to Prune Your Client Roster for Agency Growth | EP 19

The AgencyHabits Podcast

Holding on to the wrong clients can stunt your agency's growth, drain your team's morale, and cripple your profitability. This statement holds value for agency owners who are overwhelmed by client demands, feel trapped by early, problematic clients, or are struggling to focus their service offerings for maximum impact. In this episode, Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim tackle the difficult but essential practice of proactively reviewing and pruning your client list. Drawing from Barrel's own journey of specialization, they provide a clear-eyed framework for evaluating which clients are worth...

[REPLAY] How Much Cash Should Your Agency Keep on Hand? | EP 18

The AgencyHabits Podcast

Profit on paper doesn't pay the bills. Learn the best practices for designing payment terms and invoicing cadences to create a smooth, predictable cash flow. In this episode, Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim tackle one of the most critical yet misunderstood aspects of running an agency: cash flow management. They break down the dangerous gap between your P&L's accrual-based profitability and the real money in your bank account, explaining why even "profitable" agencies can face insolvency. Peter and Sei-Wook share hard-earned lessons from their own journey, including how much cash reserve is...

[REPLAY] How Specialization Impacts Your Agency’s Growth, Margins, and Valuation | EP 16

The AgencyHabits Podcast

Is your agency a "jack-of-all-trades, master of none"? In this episode, hosts Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim dive deep into the transformative power of agency specialization. They break down the critical difference between internal specialization and external positioning, and reveal why narrowing your focus is the ultimate growth accelerator for agencies under $10M in revenue. Peter and Sei-Wook share Barrel Holdings' own journey from a generalist agency serving investment banks and nail salons to a specialized leader in the Shopify CPG space. They provide a clear-eyed view of the trade-offs...

[REPLAY] Are You Calculating Your Agency’s Profits Correctly? | EP 15

The AgencyHabits Podcast

Agency profitability isn’t always what it seems. In this episode, Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim break down how to really evaluate your agency’s profit. The hosts also talks about why two agencies reporting the same margins can mean totally different things. They unpack the difference between EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) and SDE (Seller’s Discretionary Earnings), showing how owner salaries, distributions, and “normalization” adjustments can completely change the story. Whether you’re thinking about selling your agency or just want a clearer...

More Episodes

In this episode, hosts Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim take listeners on a journey back to their agency's origins, sharing hard-won insights about building a business from scratch with limited connections and resources. They explore the strategies that helped them jumpstart Barrel 19 years ago, from leveraging personal networks to building lasting client relationships that compound over time.

The conversation covers everything from their early days doing pro bono work for nonprofits to developing systematic approaches for staying top-of-mind with past clients and building referral networks. They also discuss the importance of treating every client engagement, regardless of budget, as a premium experience that can lead to future opportunities.

Whether you're starting an agency from zero or looking to revitalize your lead generation, this episode offers actionable strategies for building sustainable business growth through relationships and consistent execution.

Key Moments

1. How accepting any paying work helped build their initial portfolio

2. Why treating free work like premium engagements pays dividends

3. Leveraging Korean-American nonprofits and Columbia connections for early opportunities

4. How Silicon Alley networking opened doors to new partnerships

5. Creating mutually beneficial relationships with complementary agencies

6. How one satisfied client can multiply into multiple referrals over time

7. The weekly habit that saved their business during a revenue shortfall

8. Why aligning with growing tech platforms like Shopify creates tailwinds

Real Talk Takeaways

1. Every client is a marketing investment. Deliver premium experiences regardless of budget size.

2. Relationships compound over decades...people you meet today may become major clients years later.

3. In-person connections still matter. Virtual networking can't fully replace face-to-face relationship building.

4. Consistency beats intensity. Regular weekly outreach trumps sporadic burst efforts.

5. Diversify your lead sources…don't put all eggs in one referral basket.

6. Documentation drives visibility. Invest time in case studies and sharing your work.

7. Platform timing matters! Getting in early with growing tech platforms can provide significant advantages.

Timestamps
00:00 – Welcome to Agency Habits
00:26 – The origin story: starting Barrel 19 years ago fresh out of college with no connections
02:18 – Strategic pro bono work: using nonprofit projects to access seasoned professionals
04:24 – Treating low-budget and pro bono clients with premium service as marketing investment
07:46 – The reality check: building networks takes years, not months
09:22 – The irreplaceable value of in-person relationship building
10:46 – Building referral networks with complementary agencies
15:05 – Systematic relationship maintenance: weekly outreach to past connections
20:03 – Platform partnerships: the Shopify success story and partnership team relationships
23:54 – The foundation principle: none of this works without excellent client delivery

Notable Quotes

"Just because somebody is paying you nothing or little doesn't mean you should give them a less than premium experience."

"The best form of marketing is a happy customer."

"If you start doing it when you need it, then it's probably too late at that point."

Links & Resources

Peter Kang on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterkang34/

Sei-Wook on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seiwookkim/

AgencyHabits Website: https://www.agencyhabits.com/

AgencyHabits on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/agencyhabits/

Barrel Holdings Website: https://www.barrel-holdings.com/

Barrel Holdings LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/barrel-holdings/

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