Exit Ready

David Kieran started Marketing For Me out of his attic in Dundalk in 2016, going door to door selling websites when other digital marketers refused to leave their laptops. Nine years later he is the founder and MD of Zoma, a 15-person full-service agency, front of shirt sponsor of Dundalk FC, and exploring a US office and an AI sub-brand.In this episode of Exit Ready, David talks me through:Why he rebranded from Marketing For Me to Zoma in a Dundalk pub during COVID, and why they defined the brand values before picking a nameThe 10-person danger zone: scaling from 3 to 18-20 people, finding they were less profitable than at 10, and deliberately scaling back to 15The €500 photoshoot that turned into a €100,000-a-year clientBecoming the first Shopify partner in Ireland in 2016 (two years before most of the Irish market caught up)How wellbeing culture (rooftop fitness fundraisers, social clubs, fit-meal canteen) became a hiring moat in a rural location an hour from both Dublin and BelfastProducing the most viral jersey launch video in League of Ireland history for Dundalk FCWhy he's looking at the US during economic turmoil ("when there's economic turmoil, that's when you have a real chance to enter a market")How Zoma uses Notion + AI automation to free creative time, and why he won't let AI run client relationshipsIf you're an agency owner trying to grow without losing the things that made the business work in the first place, this one is full of decisions worth stealing.---Take the free Agency Valuation Assessment: https://moveatpace.com/agency-valuation/Join 240+ agency owners getting weekly insights: https://moveatpace.com/newsletter/Zoma: https://zoma.ieConnect with Connor:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/c-mca-0a9b6b160/Website: https://moveatpace.com#ExitReady #AgencyOwner #AgencyGrowth #MoveAtPace

FREE AGENCY HEALTH SCORECARD (8 questions, instant results): https://moveatpace.com/agency-scorecardPete Lynagh runs Haul (https://haul.agency/) from Mornington, Victoria. Haul is a full-service digital marketing agency that works exclusively with transport and logistics companies. Before Haul, Pete spent over a decade running a generalist agency called Stage Fright Management. A four-year engagement with Border Express, one of Australia's largest logistics companies, showed him how underserved the industry was. He shut the generalist model down and rebuilt around a single vertical.Most agency owners wrestle with whether to niche. Pete went further than that. He killed the generalist business and bet everything on one industry.In this episode we talked about:- The unconventional career arc from electrician to NLP practitioner to agency owner- The four-year Border Express engagement and the moment it changed Pete's direction- What it actually cost to shut down a generalist agency and rebuild around one vertical- How deep industry knowledge changes the sales conversation (you stop selling marketing, you start solving problems operators thought only other operators understood)- The Content Marketing Quadrant: Pete's framework for positioning inside a niche- The Arrow Transport engagement: 53% revenue growth and 472% traffic increase in 12 months- How Haul is using AI without losing what makes the agency specialised- What Pete would tell any agency owner thinking about niching into a single industryPete did not set out to build a sellable business. He set out to build a better one. The result is the same. This episode is about how a genuine niche tightens two value levers at once: sales engine maturity and predictable profitability.---Want to work with me?Take the free Agency Health Scorecard and find out where your agency stands:https://moveatpace.com/agency-scorecard/Join 200+ agency owners getting weekly frameworks:https://moveatpace.com/newsletter/---Connect with me:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/c-mca-0a9b6b160/Website: https://moveatpace.comPodcast hub: https://moveatpace.com/podcast/Email: [email protected]#ExitReady #MoveAtPace #AgencyOwner #AgencyGrowth #AgencyScaling

FREE AGENCY HEALTH SCORECARD (8 questions, instant results): https://moveatpace.com/agency-scorecardElizabeth and Anthony Heaney started Squint Creative (https://squintcreative.com/) from their apartment during COVID lockdown in 2020. Both were working 12-hour shifts at a diagnostics company. They built the business in their three days off, took client calls from an airport cafe, and signed their biggest retainer from that same airport.Five years later, Squint is one of the most distinctive CGI and fake out-of-home studios in the country, working with brands like Primark, Boost, and Killwater, and producing campaigns that hit millions of views.In this episode we talked about:Working 12-hour shifts while building an agency on the side, and why they would do it the exact same way againHow they scaled Hollywood-level CGI back to an affordable price for social media campaignsRunning a business as a married couple, and why critique from your spouse hits differently than critique from a clientA construction sector campaign that hit five million views and why the client had to be brave to back itHow Squint uses AI for 3D tracking and gap-filling without replacing the creative processTheir advice: build a safety net, get a retainer or two, then make the jumpThe things that make an agency easier to run are the same things that make it valuable to a buyer. This episode covers what that looks like for repeatable delivery: when you systematise how the work gets done, you can scale it without scaling the chaos.---Want to work with me?Take the free Agency Health Scorecard and find out where your agency stands:https://moveatpace.com/agency-scorecard/Join 200+ agency owners getting weekly frameworks:https://moveatpace.com/newsletter/---Connect with me:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/connormcauley/Website: https://moveatpace.comPodcast hub: https://moveatpace.com/podcast/Email: [email protected]#ExitReady #MoveAtPace #AgencyOwner #CreativeBusiness #AgencyGrowth

FREE AGENCY VALUATION (5-min assessment, PDF report): https://moveatpace.com/agency-valuationAedin O'Neill spent over 20 years in marketing before founding Grow Web (https://growweb.co.uk/), a boutique PPC and paid media agency in Belfast. She made a deliberate choice to stay specialist: 80% performance, 20% brand. No full-service, no generalist drift.That focus is what keeps Grow Web trusted by national and international clients. But staying specialist in a landscape where Meta and Google are changing the rules daily is a fight, not a default.In this episode we talked about:Why she chose to stay boutique and specialist instead of chasing full-service revenueHow Meta's aggressive automation is pushing agencies to fight for control of their clients' brandsRunning a business with her sister Sinead, and why complementary skills make the differenceThe competitive mindset from an All-Ireland GAA background and how it shapes a results-first cultureHer advice to anyone starting a PPC agency: go niche, get your hands dirty, build credibility before you build a brandUsing AI for operational efficiency while managing different attitudes across a multi-generational teamA well-run agency is also a sellable agency. When you do one thing and build processes around it, you get repeatable delivery. That is what makes the business both easier to run and more valuable.---Want to work with me?Take the free Agency Valuation and find out where your agency stands:https://moveatpace.com/agency-valuation/Join 200+ agency owners getting weekly frameworks:https://moveatpace.com/newsletter/---Connect with me:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/connormcauley/Website: https://moveatpace.comPodcast hub: https://moveatpace.com/podcast/Email: [email protected]#ExitReady #MoveAtPace #AgencyOwner #DigitalAgency #AgencyGrowth

Mark Kelso co-founded Glaze Digital with Richard over 12 years ago. What started as a do-everything agency (websites, video, photography, app development) is now a Shopify Plus partner in the top 1.5% globally, with 250+ stores built for brands doing over £20M a month.The technical side was never the problem. Glaze had the reputation, the clients, and the platform expertise. The commercial engine just had not kept pace.Over 13 months working together, Glaze saw a 47% increase in revenue and a 110% increase in profit.In this episode we talked about:The month Mark had zero revenue coming in, and the wake-up call it createdWhy being brilliant at Shopify does not automatically grow your agencyMoving from white-label work to direct strategic partnershipsThe resistance to hiring middle managers (and what changed their minds)Restructuring billing so you are not sending every invoice at month-endHow Glaze uses AI (Flora for product imagery, clients bringing Lovable designs) without losing what makes them themIf you run an agency where the work is already excellent but the business side has not caught up, this conversation is for you.FREE AGENCY VALUATION (PDF report): http://moveatpace.com/agency-valuationWEEKLY NEWSLETTER: http://moveatpace.com/newsletter#agencyowner #agencygrowth #shopify #agencycoach #exitready

Cathal O'Reilly started Rooftop Twenty Two from his bedroom in January 2020. No clients, no team. Six years later: 14 full-time staff, a studio in Dublin, and a client list of Irish and international brands.Growth was not a straight line. For the first few years the agency was doing good work, bringing in solid revenue, and barely making profit. Cathal was the salesperson, the account manager, the point of contact for everything. The business worked because he never stopped.In this episode we talked about:The difference between a lifestyle business and an actual businessWhy referrals alone will not get you where you want to goThe production manager hire he wishes he'd made 18 months earlierWhat changed when he started speaking to clients like an entrepreneur, not a creativeWhy you need to treat yourself as your own best client (and why agencies are terrible at this)If you run an agency and the business side hasn't caught up with the quality of the work, this conversation is for you.FREE AGENCY VALUATION (PDF report): moveatpace.com/agency-valuationWEEKLY NEWSLETTER: moveatpace.com/newsletterBOOK A DISCOVERY CALL: cal.com/moveatpace/discovery-call