Founder, CMO @ AMZ Prep | Fulfillment for Global Merchants | Follow me to watch us build a 100M Company

At AMZ Prep, our daily mission is to work towards our bold vision: To propel sellers and brands to amplify their global eCommerce footprint through the seamless integration of logistics, fulfillment, advertising, strategy, creativity, and growth within a single, unified solution. 

Our vision may seem audacious to some, but at AMZ Prep, we thrive on embracing challenges, particularly the ambitious and audacious ones. It's this unwavering spirit that has catapulted us into becoming a retail powerhouse that's been quietly making waves.

If you're seeking to be part of a team that's committed to achieving remarkable accomplishments, we invite you to join us on our journey. We're constantly on the lookout for exceptional individuals to become a vital part of our team. Whether your expertise lies in Operations, Finance, Customer Experience, Business Development, or Software Engineering, please don't hesitate to connect with us for any career-related inquiries.

Blair Forrest

We are drowning in leads we can’t sign. We are turning away 100+ of high-growth DTC brands every single month.

Small 3PLs, I need your help.

We get thousands of brands reaching out monthly. Many are doing 10 to 1,000 orders per month. 

They are too small for our current infrastructure, but they are the perfect fit for the right boutique warehouse.

It feels wrong to hit "delete" on a brand's dream. We want to help them win.

The last time I posted this, it went viral and we built a bridge for dozens of warehouses.

I’m looking for warehouses that:

1.⁠ ⁠Obsess over service for smaller brands.
2.⁠ ⁠Scale alongside their partners.
3.⁠ ⁠Value transparent tech and communication.

Because here is the truth: Every brand deserves world-class fulfillment, regardless of their starting line. We all started at zero.

Know a solid small 3PL? Tag them below.

Blair Forrest 

2-day “prime-like” fulfillment USA + Canada (22 warehouses)

Amazon is requiring proof your product can survive 155°F inside of FBA.

If you sell consumables, here are your 3 options before April 20th 

For context I compiled the 58,964 flagged ASINs into a searchable spreadsheet and created a 39 page Amazon Meltable Playbook.

Over ~400 brands already grabbed it highlighting what products were recently flagged as Meltable by Amazon.

📍DM me if you want this ASIN list + my Amazon Meltable Playbook.

But the bigger question everyone kept asking: what do I actually do?

Here are your 3 options: 

#1 Dispute the classification.

Amazon lets you submit documentation before April 20th to get your ASIN removed from the meltable list.

What you need:

· A letter on your manufacturer's letterhead
· The specific ASIN flagged (from the list I made) 
· Written confirmation the product can be stored at 155°F for extended periods
· The exact temperature where the product loses integrity
155°F degrees sounds extreme….it is.

Amazon is accounting for the inside of sealed trailers sitting at fulfillment centers during summer.

Those trailers can hit +155°F before they're unloaded (doesn't happen with us, but most Amazon trucks get hit with drop trailers). 

If your product genuinely holds up at that temperature, this is your best path. Get the letter from your manufacturer now. Don't wait until April.

#2 Switch to seller-fulfilled for the summer (FBM) 

Amazon won't accept meltable inbound from April 20 to September 28. But you can still sell the product through fulfillment by merchant. 

That means fulfilling orders from your own warehouse or through a 3PL instead of FBA.

Best practice: use cold-pack shipping or work with a carrier equipped for temperature-sensitive goods. 

FBM isn't ideal for most brands, usually we see a 30%-50% dip in sales if not more depending on delivery time.

Your own other option is seller fulfilled prime (incredibly challenging for most brands given their price point) but we do this now. I'll make a whole other post on this. 

#3 Pull your inventory before May 1st.

Any meltable inventory still in Amazon's fulfillment centers after May 1st may be disposed of at your expense.

Submit a removal order before April 20th. Get your inventory back. Store it at your own facility or with a 3PL through the summer, then send it back in after September 28th.

One thing worth noting: Amazon waives the Low-Inventory-Level fee for meltable products between April 1st and October 12th. 

Curious if you've seen work arounds for this?

I'm on vacation right now.
I took a sales call this morning anyway.

Not because I had to. Because I wanted to.

Here's the thing no one tells you about stepping away from sales:

You can. Anytime you want. You just have to be okay with what happens next.

Slower pipeline. Deals that slip. Prospects who went with someone who picked up the phone. Revenue that didn't close because you weren't there to close it.

Most founders aren't okay with that. So they stay on the calls. Even from the beach. Even from the airport. Even when they swore this trip would be different.

I used to think the goal was to remove myself from sales entirely. Build a team. Hand off the relationships. Finally take a vacation without checking my phone.

Now I think that's the wrong goal.

The real question isn't "when can I step away from sales?"

It's "what kind of sales do I want to stay close to?"

For me, it's the big deals. The ones where the relationship matters. The ones where showing up personally is the difference between winning and losing.

I don't take every call anymore. I have a team for that. But the calls that move the needle? I'm still on those. Vacation or not.

The founders who scale successfully don't remove themselves from sales. They get selective about which sales they stay in.

The ones who try to disappear completely usually watch revenue flatten. Or worse, decline.

Stepping away isn't about freedom from sales. It's about freedom to choose which sales deserve your time.

I chose to take the call this morning. And I'll probably take another one tomorrow.

That's not a failure to delegate. That's knowing where I add the most value.

What's the one part of your business you'll never fully hand off?

Amazon quietly flagged 58,964 ASINs as meltable. Check this list before the April 20th deadline.

If you sell consumables, chocolate, gummies, supplements, or anything wax or jelly based on Amazon, your products might be on this list.

Here's what "meltable" means:

Amazon classifies certain heat-sensitive products that have a high risk of melting at 155°F as "meltable".
 
These products can only be sent into FBA during cooler months between September 28 and April 20.

After April 20th, Amazon will not accept inbound shipments on any flagged ASIN.

That restriction runs through September 28th. 
That's 5 full months.

This matters because most brands don't know their ASINs are on the list of 58,964 products until their shipments get rejected or disposed of for a fee after May 1.

📍DM me if you want this ASIN list + my Amazon Meltable Playbook.

This is what a $1M/month freight mistake looks like.

A brand came to us doing $32M annually on Amazon. Their ops looked fine on paper. Inventory moving. Orders shipping. Revenue growing.

But their inbound was bleeding cash.

Here's what was happening:

They shipped LTL to one location every time. Amazon split the shipment across multiple fulfillment centers. They paid placement fees on every split. And check-ins took 25-35 days because everything routed through National Cross Docks first.

The math:

- Placement fees: $120K/month
- Stockouts from slow check-ins: six figures in lost sales
- Expedited air freight to catch up: another $40-50K

That's real money disappearing into bad routing. Every single month.

The fix wasn't complicated. It was routing.

We split their shipments and targeted Regional Cross Docks directly. Skipped the national sortation step. Controlled the placements instead of letting Amazon decide.

Within 60 days:

- Placement fees dropped to nearly zero
- Check-ins went from 30 days to under 7
- No more emergency air shipments

Same inventory. Same volume. Completely different P&L.

Most brands don't realize Amazon's inbound network has three layers. If you're routing to the wrong facilities, you're paying fees you don't need to pay and waiting weeks you don't need to wait.

The brands winning on Amazon aren't just selling better. They're shipping smarter.

What's your average check-in time?

We grew 318% last year, should we raise… or stay bootstrapped? I am constantly being hit up by VC on LinkedIn and need some feedback.

I recently spent a week in Mexico to truly focus on this dilemma, because offers keep getting bigger and bigger.

Here’s our reality:

Our 318% growth rate proves our value proposition is undeniable.
We have more than doubled revenues every year since launch.
We are profitable and mid-sized.

We get 1000’s of inbound leads every month.
We literally cannot keep up with the demand.

We will be a large company in 36 months at this pace.

At the same time, we are investing millions into: freight into Amazon, a stealth parcel program, our WMS, our OMS, and signing larger enterprise brands.

We are also exploring acquisitions in both technology and warehouses because we see a blue ocean forming over the next 36 months and we want to move fast.

Zero venture capital.
Zero outside investment.
Zero angel investors.

So, here is the real dilemma of choice.

The Case for Raising:
-Injecting fuel into our fire that is already burning hot.
-Scaling at a pace that creates a competitive moat.
-Accessing a network that opens doors we can’t reach yet.
-Potentially a quicker path to a lifechanging big exit.

The Case for Staying Bootstrapped:
-Total creative control.
-No board to answer too.
-Building on our terms without the “exit or die” pressure.
-100% equity in a high-growth proven business model.
-Staying true to our white-glove customer approach.

Both paths win. They just optimize for different paths and outcomes.

QUESTION TO FOUNDERS:

If you were me, what would you do?

Raise and grow as fast as possible?
Stay bootstrapped and compound with full control?

Comment with your experience and advice.

Blair Forrest accepts a brown shipping box labeled Series B Funding handed over by two venture capitalist men in suits while smaller boxes on the table are labeled vc funding, growth capital, seed funding, series a round and strategic advisor.

Stop flying business class. Focus on reinvesting every dollar.

This went viral on Reddit. Here's the story:

Last year I flew economy to Chicago. $400 round trip. Closed a $2.4M annual contract.

While my VC-backed competitors were flying teams in business class, I was eating airport Tim Hortons and answering emails on the tarmac.

They have corporate cards. I have revenue.

Every dollar I don't spend on flights is a dollar I can invest in faster check-ins, better tech, or another warehouse.

That $400 flight? It funded:

- Upgraded warehouse software
- Faster inventory routing
- Better margins for the brand I just signed

The math is simple. A business class ticket runs $2,500+. That's six economy flights. Six more deals I can close in person.

Most founders optimize for comfort. I optimize for compounding.

The middle seat isn't glamorous. But when you own 100% of your company, it feels like a throne.

VC money buys comfort. Bootstrapped discipline buys freedom.

What's one expense you've cut that actually made your business stronger?

Founder AMZ Prep | 2-day global fulfillment for omnichannel brands doing $5M+

I've landed 3 Fortune 500 clients in under 6 months.

Steal my positioning playbook for free:

1. Know their pain better than they do.

I didn’t pitch fulfillment.

I showed them exactly how the 2026 Amazon fee changes would hit their P&L.

Storage in the West up 20%.
Transportation fees up 21%.
Large Standard SKUs doubling in some cases.

For some brands, that meant seven figures in new cost exposure.

When you quantify someone’s risk before they ask, you stop being a vendor.

You become a strategic resource.

2. Give away the insight. Keep the implementation.

I built a full 2026 Fulfillment Cost Update. Every AWD, FBA, and inbound placement change mapped out.

Gave it away for free.

The brands who downloaded it saw the complexity.

They didn’t want to build the solution internally.
They wanted the team who already understood it.

3. Let the work speak before you pitch.

I never asked for a meeting.

I asked if they wanted the breakdown.

The meeting happened because credibility was already established.

Enterprise doesn’t buy from cold outreach.

They buy from demonstrated understanding.

If your positioning doesn’t quantify risk or opportunity, enterprise won’t move.

This was one of the most insane weeks of my career.

Closed a deal I'd been working on for months. Finalized a partnership that's been in the works since last year. And hundreds of 3PLs flooded my inbox after I posted about turning away DTC brands we couldn't serve.

None of it happened by accident.

That deal? Months of follow-ups. Warehouse tours. Calls that went nowhere. Until one day it clicked.

The partnership? Same story. Patience. Alignment. Waiting for the timing to be right instead of forcing it.

The 3PL response? Years of showing up on LinkedIn. Building trust before I needed anything from anyone.

Weeks like this feel like luck. They're not.

They're the result of seeds planted months or years ago finally sprouting at the same time.

Most founders want the breakthrough without the buildup. They want the closed deal without the 47 follow-ups. They want the viral post without the 200 that got 12 likes.

It doesn't work that way.

The wins that feel sudden are almost never sudden. They're just the moment when all the invisible work becomes visible.

If you're in the middle of the grind right now and nothing seems to be moving, keep going.

The compound effect is real. You just can't see it until it hits.

What's something you've been working on that hasn't paid off yet?

Saving $100k: How My Team Rescued a Rival 3PL Failure in 72 Hours.

A new brand founder called me on Tuesday.

He was frantic.

His current 3PL had gone quiet while a massive shipment sat in a carrier yard.

Amazon’s inventory cutoff was 3 days away.

If he missed it, he was looking at a $100,000 stockout.

Most 3PLs tell you to open a ticket and tell you they’ll look into it…..

Usually after the damage has been done in emergency situations.

That is how $10M brands die. They get strangled by slow partners.

We did not open a ticket. We went to work as a team.

In 72 hours, my team:
-Intercepted the freight from a failing carrier.
-Used our cloud platform to reroute the middle mile.
-Secured an emergency dock appointment through our Amazon partnership.

The Result:
The inventory hit the Amazon FC with 4 hours to spare.

The hard truth of scaling to $100M is that your logistics partner is either an engine or an anchor.

If they cannot pivot when their system breaks, they are an anchor.

We built AMZ Prep to anticipate and handle logistics emergencies.

We specialize in the white glove execution that keeps omnichannel brands alive when everyone else freezes.

Don't let a partner's incompetence cap your growth.

We fix the problems other 3PLs can't handle.

💬 Message me and I’ll audit your 2026 fulfillment strategy!

58,964 ASINs lose FBA access on April 20. Here's the SFP math to help you decide if it's worth it.

Here's the math behind SFP for those brands (save this post):

Every week CPG brands selling protein bars, chocolate, gummies are asking us: 

"Can we do SFP?"

YES... But most brands don't understand the economics.

SFP lets you keep the Prime badge while fulfilling from your own warehouse or 3PL.

We run SFP at scale for brands across big and bulky, outdoor, and cold chain, so this is math we know well and how difficult it is. 

The Metrics Amazon Require:

Small and light (example: protein bars):
· 30% of orders delivered next day
· 70% delivered in 2-days
Basically, you need to have overnight shipments. 

The difference for Big and Bulky:
· 10% next day
· 45% 2-day

There is a 3rd-tier which is extra-large but we won't talk about it in this post.

FAIL 3x in 1 year and Amazon revokes your SFP for 1 year.

The Warehouse / 3PL Requirements (baseline):
· 6 days/week fulfillment schedule.
· Extended fulfillment window (we fulfill till 3pm-4pm local time).
· You'll need a proper tech stack behind this and team monitoring seller metrics as there is a ton of variables you need to add into this. 

NOTE: You need to be running FBM actively for 90 days prior to going through the trial

The Carrier Requirements for SFP:
We use Fedex and UPS just given their performance for all SFP accounts. 

Usually, our carrier matrix would be something like this: 
· UPS next-day
· FedEx One Rate
· FedEx 2-day 
· UPS ground
· FEDEX ground

Full cost if we wanted to do SFP for a protein bar brand: 

Zone 1-3 (Ground Can Work):
· Pick/pack/ice-packs/supplies: $3.50
· UPS Ground: $8-$12
· Total: $11.50-$15.50
Ground shipping works for shorter distances, keeping costs lower
for regional distribution.

Zone 4+ (Air Required):
· Pick/pack/ice-packs/supplies: $3.50
· We'd use a FedEx 1 or 2-Day: $14-$20
Longer distances require air shipping, dramatically increasing per-
order costs.

NOTE: If your product sells at $25, shipping alone is 46-62% of the sale price.

Big and bulky is different, we usually are running 4 or 5 facilities. 

When SFP makes sense for meltable brands?
AOV is $50+ (enough margin to absorb premium costs).

Other brands will end up just putting their higher AOV SKU's.
ie. larger pack size, multi-packs, as SFP and leave the rest for FBM. 

That last one is the real calculation.
Brands losing Prime for 5 months typically see a 40-50% revenue drop on those SKUs.

Even if SFP costs $5-$8 more per order, the Prime badge lift can cover it and you put it as a "marketing expense" to keep the algorithm up, ranking and sales velocity. 

For the 90% of brands that have a $30 or less MSRP I'd suggest just run FBM during the meltable months and enroll in premium shipping. 

📍DM me if you want this ASIN list + my Amazon Meltable Playbook.

How are you handling meltable season this year?

FBM?
Seller Fulfilled Prime?
Pulling inventory and waiting it out?

undefined undefined

Founder, CMO

Amazon Meltable Timeline, SFP & FPM Costs + Options

Want to congratulate Arishekar N for his new role as we build the fastest growing logistics company in North America without raising a dollar 🚀

AMZ Prep is proud to announce the promotion of Arishekar N to Vice President of Marketing, recognizing his leadership in scaling our brand and growth engine globally.

As we power 2-day global fulfillment across 22 warehouses in the US, Canada, and EU, Ari will lead the next chapter of our expansion educating, empowering are growing the next generation of modern brands that fulfill with AMZ Prep®

If you don't know your blended fulfillment margin, stop scaling.
Fix this first.

I talk to brands doing $5M, $10M, $15M in revenue. They know their gross margin. They know their CAC. They can tell you their ROAS by channel.

Ask them what it actually costs to fulfill an order across all their SKUs, all their channels, all their shipping zones?

Blank stare.

Here's why this matters:

Your blended fulfillment margin is the true cost of getting product to customers. Not the rate card. Not the average. The actual, weighted cost across everything you ship.

And it's almost always worse than founders think.

That $8 average shipping cost? It's $8 for zone 2. It's $14 for zone 6. It's $22 for that oversized SKU going to Alaska.

That 3PL rate? It doesn't include pick fees on multi-item orders. Or storage overages. Or return processing.

That "free shipping" threshold? It's margin-positive on some orders and margin-negative on others. Do you know which?

Most brands are flying blind on the metric that determines whether growth is profitable or just expensive.

Here's what blended fulfillment margin actually includes:

Pick, pack, and ship fees across all SKUs
Outbound shipping by zone and carrier
Packaging and materials
Storage costs allocated per unit
Return shipping and processing
Damaged and lost inventory write-offs

Add it up. Divide by orders. That's your real number.

The brands that scale profitably aren't guessing. They know exactly what it costs to fulfill every order type. They price accordingly. They kill the SKUs that don't work. They route to the zones that do.

The brands that don't? They grow revenue while margin quietly disappears.

You can't optimize what you don't measure.

If you haven't calculated your blended fulfillment margin, that's the first thing to fix.

Do you know yours?

The Supreme Court just unlocked $160B in eCom refunds. Is your brand on the list?

The era of "fast-twist" policy shifts, where brands went under simply because they couldn’t track unpredictable costs is finally facing a reckoning. ⚖️

The Supreme Court’s recent ruling on "unruly" tariff practices is more than just a legal win; it’s a multi-billion dollar reset for the e-commerce industry. Here is what you need to know:

From Chaos to Regularity: We are moving away from sporadic cost spikes toward a disciplined, transparent trade environment. This allows brands to stop hoarding "emergency reserves" and start reinvesting in product development.

The Refund Opportunity: There are potentially tens of billions of dollars in refunds on the table. If your brand has been hit by volatile tariffs over the last 18 months, you could be looking at a seven or eight-figure recovery.

Data is the Golden Ticket: You cannot claim what you cannot prove. Now is the time to aggregate every import record and tariff payment with your freight partners.

Strategic Resilience: While Section 301 remains, this ruling underscores the need for diversification (India, Pakistan, Taiwan) and localized fulfillment to bypass US-centric trade hurdles.

The Bottom Line: Stability allows for strategy. The most successful brands in 2026 won't just be the ones with the best products, they’ll be the ones with the best data and the most agile supply chains.

I want to hear from you 👇 

Do you think these refunds will actually materialize, or is it just noise? 

#Ecommerce #SupplyChain #Logistics #SupremeCourt #InternationalTrade #Tariffs

Founder @ AMZ Prep | 2-day global fulfillment for omnichannel brands doing $5M+

Amazon just dropped 1-hour and 3-hour delivery.
Here’s what I can’t stop thinking about.

Amazon just changed the rules of the game again.

1-hour and 3-hour delivery are officially live across the US, marking the biggest escalation in the speed war we have seen in years.

· 90,000+ products eligible
· 1-hour delivery live in hundreds of cities
· 3-hour delivery in 2,000+ cities
· Prime members pay $9.99 for 1-hour, $4.99 for 3-hour
· Non-Prime pays $19.99 and $14.99
· Dedicated storefront at https://lnkd.in/egcUh5q2

They're now going head-to-head with Instacart, DoorDash, and Uber Eats.

But that's not what I keep thinking about.

I keep thinking about what this does to EVERYONE ELSE.

If Amazon can get a package to your door in 60 minutes...

What does that mean for Shopify brands shipping in 5-7 days?

What does that mean for Walmart, TikTok Shop, and every other channel trying to compete?

What does that mean for the 3PLs and fulfillment companies (like mine) who built their entire model around same-day and next-day being "fast enough"?

I run an Amazon-First logistics company.

We fulfill over 15 million orders annually.

More than 200 million of items into Amazon. 

And I'm sitting here genuinely unsure how to feel about this.

Part of me thinks this is just Amazon flexing.

A premium tier for people who need toothpaste RIGHT NOW.

Not a replacement for standard Prime shipping.

For context, we usually see ~12% sales lift every day you remove from your delivery.

Moving from a 5 day delivery to 4 day delivery = 12% lift in sales

And then a significant BUMP for prime badge.

But when we get into sub day delivery conversion, we don't have data yet on this. 

Part of me thinks this is the beginning of a new baseline.

Meaning that in 2-3 years, every channel will need to offer sub-2 hour delivery or they'll feel slow by comparison.

I honestly haven't formed my opinion yet.

But here's what I DO know:

Consumer expectations only move in one direction.
Faster.

And whoever can't keep up gets left behind.

I'm genuinely asking.

What do you think this means for brands selling on Shopify, Walmart, and TikTok Shop? 

Or will it not even meaningfully impact conversion.

What works at $1M quietly kills you at $10M.

At $1M, everything runs through you.

You know every customer. Every order. Every problem.

It works because you’re in the middle of it.

At $10M, that same setup becomes the bottleneck.

Here’s what breaks over and over.

The founder is the SOP.

Nothing is documented. Decisions live in your head. When someone asks how to handle something, the answer is still “ask me.”

At $10M, that’s not leadership. It’s a growth ceiling.

One person holds the keys.

Your best employee runs ads. Or the warehouse. Or supplier relationships.

Single points of failure feel fine until they fail.

Hiring stays reactive.

You hire when something breaks. Then you hire fast. Then you hire wrong. Then you’re back in the weeds fixing both the problem and the hire.

Meetings replace systems.

Instead of building processes that run without you, you add syncs. Check-ins. Slack threads.

The business moves. But only when you push it.

The fix isn’t complicated. It’s disciplined.

Document the 20% of decisions that drive 80% of outcomes.
Cross-train before you need to.
Hire ahead of the pain, not behind it.

The brands that scale smoothly aren’t smarter.

They just built systems earlier.

What got you to $1M won’t get you to $10M.

4 controversial lessons I learned about warehouse scaling from fulfilling 20M+ customer orders:

I just argued with a $45M brand’s Director of Operations.

They wanted 5 warehouses to copy Amazon’s speed and I told them NO.

Actually, I didn't just say NO...I told them it was a suicide mission.
 
Operators are sold a dream that more warehouses are the solution to instant fulfillment.

In reality, for brands under $10M, it is often a money pit and they don't have the systems to manage it.

Here's 4 Controversial Lessons I Learned (without burning cash):

1. Shipping from one location is the ultimate form of control MOST of the time.

-You have one pile of inventory to manage rather than chasing stock across the country.
-You don't have capital trapped in safety stock across 5 states just to save a day in transit.
-The only trade-off is you pay higher shipping rates to reach Zone 8 (East Coast to West Coast).

2. The "Two-Warehouse" Sweet Spot: This is where 90% of brands should be.

-One facility West (California or Las Vegas) and one in (PA, Chicago or NJ) covers the vast majority of the population.
-You reach most customers in 3 days without needing complex forecasting software.
-You eliminate a lot of Zone 7 & 8 shipping zones without fracturing your inventory pool.
-Of the past 20 brands we've signed, 15 use 2 nodes. (as you grow to ~50M+, 3 nodes will start to make more sense).

3. Majority of high SKU brands (~2,000+ SKUs, like apparel, shoes, jewelry) should not split their stock.

-You will never forecast size/color velocity correctly across 4 locations and it is impossible to get right unless you're doing serious volume.
-The most common solution is to keep 100% of SKUs in one central node (Texas for example is our largest apparel facility).

-The cost of splitting shipments will kill your margin. If a customer orders a bra (in CA stock) and leggings (in PA stock) you'll pay 2x shipping to get it to the customer.

4. Zone Skipping is a game changer for small products.

-I did a post on this. By zone skipping we pack orders in Texas and fly them to a NY hub to inject them into the local carrier network using regional carriers.
-The customer gets 2-3 day delivery at about the same cost.
-You keep one inventory pool but get MOST of the speed & benefits of a multi-node network.
-This is already huge in Canada, it’s now growing in the US and it'll be a big reason most brands don't need more than 2 facilities (unless it's seller-fulfilled prime).

The Exception: There are cases where 3-4+ warehouses make sense.

-With big and bulky products like mattresses you need to use UPS & FEDEX ground (or seller fulfilled prime as we usually need ~4 locations).
-If you are doing ~10K+ orders a month, inventory forecasting is locked and the freight savings finally outweigh the storage costs + transfer between warehouses.

Curious on your take… How many locations do most brands need?

Growing revenue is not the same as scaling.

Most founders confuse them. Then wonder why things start breaking at $5M.

Growing revenue is adding more on top.

More sales. More orders. More customers. More everything.

It works. Until it doesn't.

Scaling is making the system handle more without breaking.

The difference shows up fast:

Growth without scale looks like this:

- Revenue doubles, but so does chaos
- Every new customer adds more work per person
- Your best people burn out because nothing runs without them
- Margins shrink because inefficiency compounds

Scale looks like this:

- Revenue doubles, but headcount doesn't
- Systems absorb volume without breaking
- The business runs even when you're not pushing it
- Margins hold or improve because the infrastructure supports it

I've seen brands hit $10M and feel like they're drowning. I've seen brands hit $20M and feel like they're cruising.

The difference isn't the revenue. It's whether they built systems before they needed them.

Growth is a vanity metric if the foundation cracks under pressure.

Scale is what lets you keep what you build.

Are you growing or actually scaling?

Boredom is the best sign your system is working.

I used to chase the dopamine. The viral post. The big win. The rush of something new taking off.

But the real growth came when it stopped feeling exciting.

Same cadence. Same process. Same output.

No surprises. No reinventing the wheel every week. Just showing up and doing the thing I said I'd do.

That's when the numbers actually moved.

Most people quit right before this phase. They mistake boredom for stagnation. They think if it doesn't feel hard or new, it must not be working.

It's the opposite.

The exciting part is figuring it out. The boring part is when it compounds.

Systems feel boring because they're working. Consistency feels repetitive because it's building. The lack of drama means the foundation is solid.

If you're still chasing the rush, you're optimizing for feelings instead of outcomes.

The best creators I know aren't motivated every day. They just don't need to be. The process runs whether they feel like it or not.

If it feels repetitive, you're probably building something real.

What's the boring thing that's actually working for you?

I've worked with hundreds of brands. Very few operate like this. 

If you're in CPG and not following Jason Burke, you're missing out.

If you haven't already, follow Jason.

What he's building at New Primal is something special.

Truly textbook founder led go to market.

Jake Karls too.

VERY similar to how I approach growing AMZ Prep® but just two different worlds.

We've had the chance to work with their team, all incredible strong operators 

If you aren't watching them closely to understand their playbook Jason is actively giving away for free online and LEARN...

You're missing out. 

Who else in CPG do you follow that's worth paying attention to? 

Lets give them some love

Built New Primal from Kitchen Counter to 15,000+ Stores | Clean Food Pioneer

Everyone thinks breakout products are luck.

They’re not.

They’re timing + taste + distribution + story…all compounding at once.

This rotisserie chicken stick is one of the fastest-growing items we’ve ever launched.

Not because we got lucky (well, maybe a little).

Really, though, we stacked the deck:

-The category was ready to move beyond beef

-Consumers wanted something familiar (no guessing, no risk)

-Chicken demand is/was exploding

-We nailed a flavor profile people already trust

-We launched into a rising tailwind—not against it

But product alone doesn’t win anymore.

So we went all in:

-Founder-led marketing
-Seeded product to creators before launch
-Activated Amazon’s creator ecosystem
-Built momentum heading into a major trade show
-Let real people tell the story before retail ever did

9 months later:

5,000+ stores
Top 5 SKU on Amazon for us
One of the fastest movers we’ve ever seen

No gimmicks.

Just aligning product, timing, and distribution…then pressing hard.

And next month?

If you live in Texas…you’re going to be very happy 🤠

As an agency founder in 2025, there’s a lot you’re missing out on.

And if I had to guess, you’re consistently:

- Working 60+ hour weeks
- Fighting to maintain profitability. 
- Sacrificing personal time to play catch up with work.

I totally understand how overwhelming it can feel to be stuck in a cycle of endless tasks and responsibilities.

I own 5 different businesses myself. 

You also know that if you keep this up, you’re never going to find the time for personal interests, growth, or relaxation.

And while those long hours are taking a toll on your health and personal life…

Your desired profitability will still remain out of reach because of how inefficient your operations are. 

But there’s good news…

I've developed a unique approach that has allowed myself and hundreds of other agency founders to run highly profitably agencies, working less than 5 hours a week. 

And in just 12 weeks, it allows you to be totally removed from operations, while experiencing a 35% bump in profitability at the same time. 

So not only can I help you get your life back…

But I’ll help your agency become more profitable and more efficient at the same time. 

Just for reference, I’ve used this system to:

- Increase EBITDA by 35%+ for my own agency, working only 5 hours/week.
Increase EBITDA by an average of 28.25% for 4 clients over the last 6 months

- Help multiple agency owners go from working 60+ hours per week down to under 5 hours

And there’s a whole lot more where that came from.

That said, I'm dedicated to helping other agency founders break free from the grind and achieve a more balanced, profitable business.

By working with me, you'll learn how to streamline operations, increase efficiency, and boost profitability. 

My agency scaling method will help you regain control of your time and focus on what truly matters. 

If you want to hear more about my system…

DM me ‘AGENCY’ or ‘Nick, I actually read your about section’

Nick Avaria

Do you know if your agency is capable of 8-figures?

This 30 metric dashboard will tell you:

1. Check unburdened compensation as a percentage of AGI. If it's above 45%, you're either overstaffed or underpriced. This ratio tells you if your people costs are sustainable at scale.

2. Check your total cost ratio. If it's above 65% of AGI, your operating profit will never clear 35%. This is the ceiling most agencies can't figure out.

3. Check monthly churn as a percentage of revenue. If you're above 2.5%, new sales are just replacing lost clients and your agency isn't actually growing. Track this monthly, not quarterly.

4. Compare new client value to churn value. If you're closing $12K in new business but churning $15K, you're shrinking and might not even realize it.

5. Check your NPS. If it's below 45%, your clients are not happy enough to refer or upsell, which means you're leaving revenue on the table every month.

6. Check if upsells are outpacing churn value. If your upsell number is negative or zero over the last 6 months, your account managers are order takers and your retention system has no growth engine.

7. Check your CAC payback period. If it takes longer than 6 months to recoup what you spent acquiring a client, your unit economics are underwater.

8. Check your LTV to CAC ratio at 3 and 6 months. If either is below 3:1, you're spending too much to acquire clients that aren't staying long enough.

9. Check billable utilization rate. If your team is below 70%, you're paying for hours that aren't generating revenue. This is where most hidden profit loss sits.

10. Check your billable to non-billable FTE ratio. If it's below 3:1, you have too many people in overhead roles relative to people doing client work.

11. Check AGI per FTE. If it's below $15,500 per month, each person on your team isn't producing enough revenue to support healthy margins.

That's 11 out of 30+ metrics in this dashboard.

It also includes a weighted revenue forecast, a video walkthrough, and every section feeds into one master summary so you can see the full picture in one easy place.

Send me a connect, comment “dashboard”, and I’ll send the full dashboard over.

Playing whack-a-mole with all the operational challenges at your agency? We can help with our proven 4 step process. We'll work with you to address items like overstaffing, sustaining profit, predicting workloads and more. It's time to grow your agency, not just spin your wheels.

The goal is to help reward people in Agencies for their hard work. Be they agency owners or employees.
The Agency Economics Thesis: 

Drive efficiency through measurement >>> Create more profit >>> Use profit to invest in training >>> Pay people more as the training enables better results >>> Repeat until the company makes top quartile profit and employees make top quartile wages.

The overall system links the following together seamlessly: 
1) Manage the leadership team well
2) Draw out the right data and review it consistently.
3) Put in performance management at all levels to identify top performers and future rockstars that need training then support them as much as possible.
4) Create a system of client value that is a cut above the competition by combining results, experience, and education. 
5) Iterate training and internal systems progressively to drive scale.

Founder

Co-Founder

Helping companies raise capital for ventures that have a positive impact on society. We are looking for investable business models that go beyond just making profit. We partner with strategic investors as well as invest our own capital when financing deals.

We are a diversified holding company currently invested in:
- Technology
- Real Estate
- Professional Services
- Hospitality
- Wedding Industry


Principal

Accountable for strategic alignment and delivery of all aspects of Operations and the full suite of specialized marketing services provided by CREW inclusive of: Digital Marketing, Web Platform Development, Design, Writing, Video, Content, etc..  Responsible for leading the planning and implementation of new business opportunities, mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, strategic alliances, and the launch of new internal services. Other areas include:

• Lead organization-wide change management efforts;
• Developing and implementing Business Development processes;
• Developing and refining the agency’s operational planning and management practices;
• Driving a unified commitment to business/operational excellence and accountability;
• Creating/leading all locations staff planning/forecasting activities and recruitment strategies;
• Developing and overseeing performance management systems/processes organization wide;

Sr. Director Operations & Shared Services

Responsible for overseeing Operations, Finance, and HR internally inclusive of: Developing and refining business processes, operational forecasting , defining and aligning expectations, developing a culture of accountability, and building/developing strong project teams.

Sold to CREW Marketing Partners on September 2014.

Operations Director & Co-Founder

•	Developed sales tools to standardize and shorten customer qualification process by 90%+;
•	Conducted financial reviews and market analysis to produce multiple capital project plans;
•	Analyzed economic and industry data to determine price increase feasibility;

Acted in a Brand Manager role responsible for the analysis and deployment of new products resulting in comprehensive marketing/sales strategies for three new product lines:

•	Reduced cost of business unit start up by 75%;
•	Business unit brought to market months ahead of schedule;
•	Monitored and evaluated market trends, customer needs, and product performance.

Business Analyst

•	Strategic repositioning;
•	Cost benefit analysis; 
•	Sales & Marketing plans;
•	Business Development;
•	E-marketing integration for businesses.

Business Consultant

•	Maintained a wide network of contacts through B2B customer relations;
•	Screened, hired, and trained employees and created a standardized hiring funnel;
•	Self-branded and built a reputation of product quality excellence;
•	Helped define/refine product offering for B2B customers.

Hospitality Consultant

Helping 100 Agencies Get To 1M Annual Profit | $10M ARR in 3 Years | DM me ‘SCALE’

Scaled my agency to $10M in 3 years
Bought & sold 7 agencies
1x dashboard powered everything:

This is the same dashboard we install inside agencies to give founders visibility into:

 - Margin
 - Client retention
 - Utilization
 - Forecasting
 - Revenue per employee
 - CAC and payback
 - MRR movement
 - Team load vs. delivery capacity

If you’re an agency owner doing $100K+ per month and you:

1. Aren’t sure which clients are profitable
2. Still make hiring decisions based on gut feel
3. Can’t see real-time MRR or forecasted margin
4. Have a “busy” team but unclear accountability
5. Feel like things are growing but it’s not very stable

Then this dashboard is perfect for you.

It combines every key part of agency operations:

Sales, Delivery, Ops, Finance, Retention, into one live sheet.

Inside, you’ll see:

 - AGI by month
 - Billable hours and effective hourly rate
 - CAC by acquisition type
 - LTV by cohort
 - Revenue per full time employee
 - NPS by pod
 - Retention & upsells
 - Team-wide forecasting logic
 - Capacity red zones before they break margin

I built this because I needed it myself.

And now dozens of agency founders use it to hit their growth targets faster.

To get access -

1. Connect with me
2. Like this post
3. Comment something below

I’ll DM it to you ASAP.

The fastest way to increase agency profit:

Fire your staff or grow to max capacity. Here’s why:

I've done 30+ agency audits in the last six months. 

28 of them were overstaffed. 

And in almost every case, the bloat was in billable roles rather than admin, ops, support, or leadership.

Two options when you're overstaffed:

1. Let people go
2. Grow into capacity (close more deals, stop hiring, let revenue catch up)

The deciding factor is margin:

-> Sub 10% profit margin: let people go. 

You're too close to the edge and need to build cash position before anything else.

-> Above 10% with reasonable cash: grow into it. 

More upside than cutting.

But the catch is that you need to know how long it'll take to grow into your current capacity.

Years ago my agency went from 25 people down to 15 at one point. 

Then we did 30% more revenue with almost half the team.

That's the reality of most agencies. They're carrying people they don't need because they hired based on "we're so full" instead of actual utilization data.

The bottom line:

A person at 80% utilization does their work and causes no drama.

While a person at 20% utilization causes problems: interpersonal issues, complaints, and messy politics.

I've NEVER done this before.

(I might never do it again - we’ll see)

I’m running my first ever live workshop.

I've been putting this off because I wanted to over-deliver.

So next Thursday I’m sharing everything.

1. How I increased team capacity even when they said they're "maxed out"
2. How I find the bottlenecks that are actually killing profit
3. How I chose which clients to upsell, fire, and grow to maximize margin
4. How I operate on data and build dashboards in about 10 minutes a week
5. And… you can ask question you have about your agency in the Q&A.

Here’s the details:

→ Next Thursday, March 12th at 1:30pm ET / 10:30am PT
→ 15 seats.
→ $99 per seat.
→ Full recording + live Q&A included.

I wouldn't be surprised if this sells out before the week is over.

How to get access:

Drop a ‘Workshop’ comment below and I’ll send you the private invite link. (only 15 spots)

Is your monthly agency churn above 5%?

How to lower it (25 point checklist):

1. Break down churn by account manager. I've seen one AM at 2% monthly and another at 20% on the same team. That's an 10x difference in client lifetime value.

2. Run quarterly strategic meetings with your top 40-50% of clients. One agency's biggest churn problem: they'd report results, say "thanks, see you later," and give zero insights.

3. Call every client after NPS whether they filled it out or not. The follow-up call is 80% of the value. The survey itself is only 20%.

4. Give salespeople a percentage of the account for the first year. Now they sell clients who actually stay.

5. Never report a number without giving it relation to something. "We got 100 leads" means nothing. "100 leads, 50% above benchmark, 30% better than last month" means everything.

6. Build 50+ touchpoints into your first 100 days of onboarding. Split roughly into thirds: expectation setting, experience, and education.

7. Assign new clients to your lowest-churn AMs first. Rank your team by churn and work down.

8. Track churn by revenue, not just client count. You want revenue churn lower than client churn. That means you're losing small clients, not big ones.

9. Have senior leadership do feedback calls, not the account manager. Clients won't tell their day-to-day contact the blunt truth because it's awkward.

10. In quarterly meetings, deliver insight value: "Here's an insight. Here's how we capitalize. Here's what it means for you in dollars."

11. If sales comp is all front-end commission, salespeople will say whatever it takes to close. One-time bonus = misaligned incentives.

12. Establish industry benchmarks for every metric you report. Then set targets above them.

13. Break down churn by sales rep. Some reps have 15% backend churn while others have 3-4%. The difference is what they're promising on sales calls.

14. Most agencies lose clients between months 5-12. First 4 months you're fresh and new. 12+ months you're tried and true. Months 5-12 you're questionable.

15. Never tack feedback onto the end of a work meeting. Clients don't have time and won't be honest. Schedule a separate 15-minute call just for feedback.

16. Track upsells and reductions, not just clients won and lost. One agency had zero upsells over 18 months. Massive warning sign.

17. Show the gap: "You're achieving X, but industry standard is Y. Here's the 3-5 steps to bridge it. Sign off so we can do this work."

18. Write down client results weekly. Compare to benchmarks. Put it in a dashboard so you can see who's hitting and who's not.

19. Send NPS monthly for the first 3 months, then quarterly. But remember the survey is just the excuse to book the call.

20. Tie bonuses and raises to revenue under management with a churn requirement. High-churn AMs naturally get fewer accounts until they improve.

Running low on characters…

Connect & comment 'checklist' --> I'll DM you a high-res spreadsheet.

Hire or automate? Grow or stabilize? Systems or speed?

Answering all of these + more:

-> Hiring or Automation?
Automation first. You only hire when absolutely necessary. Once automation has maxed out what it can do, then you bring in people.

-> Systems or Speed?
Systems. Because systems create speed. If you're trying to move fast without systems, you're just creating chaos that you'll have to clean up later.

-> Delegation or Control?
Delegate. If you try to control everything, you become the bottleneck and everything gets slow.

-> More Clients or Higher Prices?
Higher prices. Higher paying clients are less needy, they generate more leverage in your business model, and you naturally end up with higher profit margins.

-> More Content or Better Content?
Both. The only way to get better content is to do more of it so you can figure out what actually gets results. Quality comes from quantity.

-> Growth or Stability?
Stability first. Growth is what happens after you're stable. If you try to grow on an unstable foundation, you'll scale your problems alongside your revenue.

-> Generalist or Specialist?
At senior levels, generalist is the right move. At junior levels, specialists scale way faster.

-> Planning or Execution?
Only planning for the first 10%. The other 90% needs to be execution. Most agency owners over-plan and under-execute.

Meet Luke Donoghue and Austin LeClear
12 months ago, they nearly tore down their agency.
Now they profit $85K/mo, here’s how:

Luke and Austin at Grow My Ads came to me in January 2025. They'd made $40K in total profit for all of 2024. That's $3K/month average. 

They told me: "If this doesn't work, we need to quit the agency and do something else." I obliged and we got to work.

The numbers when we started:
-> 7.78% operating margin
-> 15% monthly churn (clients gone in ~6 months)
-> $11K operating profit in January

The problem was churn eating everything they built.

At 15% monthly churn, every client you close is gone within 6-7 months. You're refilling a leaking bucket. Revenue comes in, revenue walks out, and you're left with nothing.

What we did:
-> Installed dashboards so they could see what was actually happening
-> Fixed the churn problem (15% down to 3-5%)
-> Did not fire a single person

That last part is important. Most people would say "cut costs, fire people, get lean." We did the opposite. We fixed churn and let them grow into the capacity they already had.
It took time.

January to June was slow. They had a negative month in April. But we were building the foundation.

Then September hit:
-> $88,584 operating profit
-> 37.73% margin
-> Churn locked in at 3-5%

The last four months of 2025 they averaged $76K/month in profit.

In summary:
-> 2024 total profit: $40K
-> 2025 total profit: $481K
-> 12x year-over-year

They're now on track for $1M+ in annual operating profit. 

All with same team and same offer in the same market. The only thing that changed was CHURN.

At 15% churn, they needed 2 new clients just to replace 1 lost client and grow. At 3-5% churn, almost every new client they close is pure growth.

It’s crazy how Luke and Austin were ready to shut their agency down.

Only to now be completely ecstatic about hitting new growth goals.

That's what fixing the fundamentals does

Google Ads Strategist & Head Of Growth at Grow My Ads

Co-Founder at GrowMyAds.com

Are custom deliverables worth offering?

My take (as a $10m/yr agency owner):

The problem with saying yes to every custom client request is that you end up with 30 clients who all get delivered to differently.  

As a result, your margins stay stuck under 20% because you're basically running 30 micro-agencies inside one company.

So, no. 

They’re hemorrhaging your profits like crazy.

But here’s what to do about it:

Run an “effective hourly rate” audit:

1. List every client from the past 3-6 months
2. Write down total revenue collected per client
3. Write down total hours to service each client across all team members
4. Divide dollars by hours
5. Rank from highest to lowest

If your top client is at $200/hour and your bottom client is at $40/hour, that's custom work eating your margin. You’re making the same revenue from that client but doing 5x the delivery.

Next, start from the bottom of the list and work your way up. 

For each client, give them two options:

-> Price increase to match the scope they're getting
-> Scope reduction to match what they're paying

They don't have to pay more. You can also just deliver less.

If they take either option, you win. If they take neither and leave, you also win because you just freed up capacity for a profitable client.

I ran this exact system with an agency partner. We went through their bottom 20 accounts. Only 4 left. The rest took price increases or scope reductions. 

The extra revenue collected for the exact same work was $35K-40K.

Just paid $22K for a personal health concierge.
$20K between my wife & I, and $2K for our daughter.

On day one I went through:

→ Bloodwork
→ Screening MRI
→ DEXA body composition scan
→ Exercise treadmill test
→ Audiometry, tonometry, peak flow
→ Dietary assessment
→ Functional movement assessment
→ Intro to my pharmacy team

All of that repeats every year.

My doctor basically becomes my health quarterback. All of my data flows into them from:

- Personal trainer
- Dietitian
- Mobility practitioners
- Chiropractor
- Physio and osteopath
- Massage therapists
- Naturopath
- Acupuncture

All coordinated under one roof. 

My dietitian even works with my chef so meals are done to spec.

The whole thing is built around preventative medicine. Basically, everyone has something wrong with them or something sub-optimal - they just don't know because they don't go in until it hurts or something breaks. 

So my tests created a list of things to fix and I knock them off one by one with my doctor prioritizing the order.

If I need a specialist, their internal team calls daily looking for cancellations. So appointments that normally take 3-9 months, I'm getting in 1-3 weeks. 

For the record, I've spent more on plane tickets and single courses before.

Doing this felt like the easiest decision I've made in a while.

Just had to reflect on my priorities.

CEO: We're not at 8-figs yet. We gotta close more deals.
Me: You don't actually.
CEO: How else do we grow?

Me: How many deals are you closing per month?

CEO: Eight to ten. Around 3K each.

Me: That's 24-30K in new MRR every month. What's your monthly churn?

CEO: I don't know exactly. Maybe 8%?

Me: So you're adding 25K and losing around 20K. You're netting 5K per month in growth.

CEO: Right. That's why we need more sales.

Me: No. That's why you need less churn.

CEO: But every consultant I've talked to says we need to grow the pipeline.

Me: Of course they do. That's the easy advice. How many people can actually help you fix churn? Almost none. So they tell you to sell more instead.

CEO: But we're closing deals. The sales team is working.

Me: Let me show you the math. At 8% monthly churn, your average client stays 12 months. At 2.5% churn, that same client stays 40 months. You'd 3x your LTV without closing a single additional deal.

CEO: How do we actually get to 2.5%?

Me: Do you know your churn rate by account manager?

CEO: No. We just track it at the company level.

Me: I've seen agencies where one AM has 2% monthly churn and another has 20%. Same company, same service. That's an 10x difference in client lifetime value.

CEO: So some of our AMs might be bleeding clients and we wouldn't know.

Me: Exactly. And some sales reps have 15% back-end churn while others have 3%. The difference is what they're promising on the call. If comp is front-end heavy, they'll say whatever it takes to close.

CEO: What else?

Me: Are you running quarterly strategic meetings with your top clients?

CEO: We do monthly check-ins.

Me: Those are work meetings. I mean dedicated meetings where you show clients insights, benchmarks, and opportunities. One agency I worked with installed these and their churn dropped from 16% to under 3%. They didn't add a single new sales channel.

CEO: So you're saying we shouldn't invest in sales?

Me: I'm saying sales is the least efficient way to grow. If you retained clients at 2.5% monthly churn, you'd hit 8 figures without adding another rep.

CEO: So what do we focus on first?

Me: Track churn by account manager and by sales rep. Run NPS monthly and actually call clients after. Install quarterly meetings with your top 50% of clients. Tie AM comp to retention.

CEO: And then we can worry about scaling sales?

Me: By then you probably won't need to.

Agency CEO: “We need to close more to hit $10M/yr.”

Me: “How many are you closing now?”

Agency CEO: “Eight to ten a month. Around $3K each.”

Me: “What's your monthly churn?”

Agency CEO: “Maybe 8%.”

Me: “So you're adding $25K in new MRR each month. But at 8% churn, you're losing almost as fast as you're adding. You're barely netting anything,”

Agency CEO: “Right. That's why we need more sales.”

Me: “No. That's why you need less churn.

At 8% monthly churn, your revenue ceiling is capped. Period. Doesn't matter how many deals you close.

At 2.5% churn, that same sales engine blows you past $1M MRR.

Same close rate and offer.”

Agency CEO: “How do we actually get to 2.5%?”

Me: “Three things…

1. Track churn by account manager. Not company-wide. I've seen agencies where one AM has 2% monthly churn and another has 20%. That's a 10x difference in client lifetime value.

2. Track churn by sales rep on the back end. If one rep's clients churn at 15% and another's at 3%, the first rep is saying whatever it takes to close.

3. Quarterly strategic meetings with your top 50% of clients. Not status calls. Dedicated sessions where you show insights, benchmarks, and opportunities they haven't thought of.

One agency installed these three things. Churn dropped from 12% to under 3%. They didn't add a single new sales channel.

Topline doubled in 8 months.”

Agency CEO: “😮”

I'm running a live workshop on March 12th where I break down the full system behind this.

Comment "WORKSHOP" and I'll send you the details.

Reduced a CEO’s churn to under 4% in 6 months

Fixing churn = rapid agency growth:

(1) Every time you cut churn in half, revenue doubles
Retention compounds. The longer clients stay, the more your top line grows without needing new sales.

(2) Profit grows faster than revenue
High churn bleeds profit. Lower churn means stronger margins. In this case, profit didn’t just double, percentage profit went up too.

(3) The magic number is 2.5%
That’s the benchmark I use with every agency I scale. At that level, you’re set up for long term growth without constant sales pressure.

(4) Retention fuels 8-figure scale
Sales alone won’t get you there. Agencies that hit 8 figures do it by compounding revenue through client retention.

The result?

A highly profitable, highly scalable agency that can actually sustain 7–8 figures.

I rarely see agency owners price their services correctly.

Here's how in 60-seconds:

It's called the 30/30 rule. And there’s two numbers:


1. Close rate.

What percentage of proposals do you close?

If you're above 30% - like 40%, 50%, 60% - you're pricing too low. 

The market is telling you it can support more.


2. Delivery cost.

Direct cost to deliver (people + tools) as a percentage of revenue.

If it's above 30%, you don't have room to scale.

Here's why:

At full scale, costs break down like this:

→ 30% direct delivery
→ 15% admin/management/non-billable
→ 20-25% SGA (marketing, rent, software)

That leaves 30%+ profit.

If your delivery cost is 45% or 50%, the moment you add managers, your margin disappears. 

This is why profit drops as agencies grow.

The math:

→ Close rate above 30%? Raise prices until it drops to 28-35%.
→ Close rate below 30%, delivery cost below 30%? Lower price until delivery cost hits 30-35%.
→Close rate below 30%, delivery cost above 30%? You can't demonstrate value. Fix your case studies and sales proof first.

I’ve spoken to 200+ agencies…

A lot of them are undercharging and missing out on profit.

Calculate both numbers this week. Your P&L will thank you.


P.s.

I'm breaking this down in more depth at a live workshop on March 12th. How to 2x agency profits without cutting costs.

Comment "WORKSHOP" and I'll DM you the details.

I have a friend who runs an 15-person agency who bounced between $80k-$100k MRR for 2 years:

Yet he was closing deals every month.

He kept trying to break through by selling harder. 

But…

→ Team got stretched. 
→ Delivery dropped. 
→ Clients churned. 

So I looked at his numbers.

Monthly churn: above 10%.

That means every client is gone in less than 10 months.

Every new deal is just replacing a lost one. 

If he cut churn to 3%, his existing sales engine would take him past $300K MRR without a single extra deal.

On top of that, his team was "at capacity."

Ok…

So I measured them. 

Half their time was non-billable.

He was paying for capacity he wasn't using.

So we fixed his churn. 

→ Churn went from 10% to 3% = revenue ceiling lifted 3x.

Then his team:

→ Utilization went from 50% to 75% = same team handles 50% more work.

Now, he’s finally broke the ceiling.

This is exactly what I'm breaking down in my live workshop this Thursday.

How to 2x agency profits without cutting costs, without offshoring, and without any additional sales or marketing.

Shoot a comment below or DM me and I’ll send you the invite link.

taplio

The Battle

Blair Forrest

Nick Avaria

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreBlair Forrest's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreNick Avaria's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Blair Forrest

Nick Avaria

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Blair Forrest's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreNick Avaria's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreBlair Forrest's LinkedIn Performance