Go behind the scenes of real agency businesses. The AgencyHabits Podcast shares ideas, lessons, and experiments from across Barrel Holdings - home to a growing portfolio of specialized agencies and over two decades of insights. We share them all here, hoping you'll test, tweak, and find what works best for your agency.
Breaking Past Your Agency's First $1 Million | Ep 41
Getting close to $1 million in revenue can feel strangely disorienting.
You're landing clients, staying busy, and keeping the lights on, but revenue still refuses to move beyond the same ceiling. Every hire feels risky, every proposal feels custom, and growth never seems to compound.
Today, on Agency Habits, we unpack why agencies plateau before their first $1 million, the simple math exercise every founder should run, and the five paths we've consistently seen agencies use to finally break through.
In this episode, you'll learn:
📌 Why agencies stall before reaching $1 million in annual revenue
📌 The demand versus capacity trap that keeps founders stuck
📌 How to work backwards from your revenue target
📌 Why every proposal feels different before your service offering becomes repeatable
📌 How to plan your team before you can afford to hire
📌 The five most common paths agencies take to break through $1 million
📌 Why retention and account growth create compounding momentum
📌 When outbound is the right growth strategy
📌 The hires that give founders the leverage to keep growing
If your agency has been hovering below seven figures, this episode will help you understand what is holding you back and give you a practical framework for finally breaking through.
📺 Watch us on YouTube
📩 Build a more scalable, profitable agency
Get the Agency Habits newsletter – practical breakdowns on pricing, margins, and operations you can apply immediately inside your agency. Subscribe here 👉 https://www.agencyhabits.com/
🔗 Follow the hosts on LinkedIn
Peter Kang 👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterkang34/
Sei-Wook Kim 👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/seiwookkim/
28 Jul 2026
How Much Should Your Agency Spend on Business Development? | Ep 40
Most agency owners ask the wrong question when it comes to business development budgets.
Instead of asking "What percentage of revenue should we spend?", the better question is "Where should we invest our business development dollars first?"
Today on Agency Habits, Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim break down the five core business development functions every agency invests in, and explain why not all growth dollars are created equal.
You'll learn why gross margin determines what growth investments your agency can actually afford, why account growth consistently delivers the highest ROI, and why outbound is often the most expensive mistake agencies make when their foundations aren't in place.
In this episode they discuss:
📌 Why gross margin is the true funding source for business development
📌 The five business development functions every agency should understand
📌 Why account growth is usually your cheapest and highest-return growth channel
📌 How partnerships and referrals outperform cold outreach over time
📌 Why consistent marketing compounds—even when results aren't immediate
📌 When it's actually time to invest in sales capacity
📌 Why outbound should usually be your last business development investment
📌 Common mistakes agency founders make when allocating growth budgets
📌 A practical exercise to audit your current business development spending
If you're trying to grow your agency more efficiently, this episode will help you spend your next business development dollar in the right place.
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📺 Watch us on YouTube
📩 Build a more scalable, profitable agency
Get the Agency Habits newsletter – practical breakdowns on pricing, margins, and operations you can apply immediately inside your agency.
Subscribe here 👉 https://www.agencyhabits.com/
🔗 Follow the hosts on LinkedIn
Peter Kang 👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterkang34/
Sei-Wook Kim 👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/seiwookkim/
21 Jul 2026
Agency Lesson: The 3-Part Structure for Better Leadership Offsites
Most leadership offsites fail because they lack structure.
In this short agnecy lesson, we break down the simple framework we evolved after years of running leadership offsites across our agencies. The goal isn't just to get away from the office, it's to create the right environment for reflection, learning, and alignment.
The structure has three parts: looking back on the previous period, learning together as a leadership team, and deciding what you'll build next.
When done well, these sessions create shared language, stronger alignment, and clearer priorities for the next quarter.
In this excerpt we cover:
• How to run a meaningful "look back" session with your leadership team
• Why reading books together builds shared language and better decisions
• The importance of preparation before offsite discussions
• How reflection and learning compound over time
• Exercises that help leadership teams align on what to build next
The most valuable offsites aren't about brainstorming — they're about creating alignment and clarity that compounds over time.
📩 Build a more scalable, profitable agency
Get the Agency Habits newsletter – practical breakdowns on pricing, margins, and operations you can apply immediately inside your agency.
Subscribe here 👉 https://www.agencyhabits.com/
🔗 Follow the hosts on LinkedIn
Peter Kang 👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterkang34/
Sei-Wook Kim 👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/seiwookkim/
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