Agency Operators: Level Up

Growing a mastermind of Agency Operators, teaching agency operations.

In 16 weeks, I help agency owners Install Operational Excellence through:

1. Getting clarity on your Core Metrics
2. Creating the 6 Foundations
3. Increasing team Capacity (and profitability)

Founder

WKND Digital

Advisor to WKND Digital Leadership & Ecomm Investments

Advisor

Responsible for: 
- Implementing LEAN business systems
- Developing the overall business strategy
- Coaching and mentoring service line leaders
- Overall P&L and service line P&Ls

Chief Operating Officer & Partner

WKND Investments

WKND Investments exists to be the #1 growth vehicle for passionate brand owners.

We are brand owners who have done more than $45M in revenue, and are looking to partner with great DTC e-comm brands to help them scale and exit.

We own a world-class digital marketing agency that manages our investment's core infrastructure.

Co-Founder

Family Gifts Co.

Family Gifts Co. is an 8-Figure DTC E-Commerce brand in the family gifts niche. Our mission is to Bring Families Together, and we do that through our extensive catalog of unique, personalized gifts.

-Responsible for overall marketing strategy, product development, and managing a team of amazing people.

Chief Executive Officer

Vatizam 

Vatizam is a boutique marketing consulting firm that works with 7 and 8 figure brands to grow their businesses through paid advertising.

Aetna

Provide medical, dental, life & disability products to Orlando clients through broker distribution by relationship building, product differentiation, and consultative sales approach.

2012 Results:
o $10,595,000 in medical sales 
o $545,000 in dental sales 
o $455,000 in life / disability sales

Middle Market Account Executive - Central Florida

Provide medical, dental, life & disability products to South Florida clients through broker distribution by relationship building, product differentiation, and consultative sales approach.

2011 Results: 
o $2,725,000 in medical sales 
o $255,000 in dental sales 
o $75,000 in life / disability sales 

2010 Results: 
o $425,000 in dental sales 
o $100,000 in life / disability sales

Middle Market Account Executive - South Florida

• Prospect and qualify potential small business (1-50) clients
• Receive goal of 2 prospect meetings a week by cold calling 100-150 people a day

Sales Intern

Kyle Hunt is an American entrepreneur and business investor, with over 12 years of experience in starting, scaling, buying, and selling 7 and 8 figure E-commerce brands and Agencies. 

According to his wife, he is also "the best husband."

With humble roots in Orlando, FL, Kyle has quickly grown to be one of the most respected names in the Agency space.

He is currently the Founder of Agency Operators: Level Up, which helps $50k-250k/mo. agency owners install operational excellence in their agencies.

He is also the CEO of Family Gifts Co., a multi-8 figure DTC E-commerce brand.

Previously, he was:

Co-Founder of WKND Investments, a company dedicated to investing in the best $5-$30m/yr. USA based DTC e-commerce brands.

CEO of Vatizam, a marketing consulting agency that scales Brands to 7 and 8 figures through funnel optimization & paid traffic.

Kyle Hunt

Twelve years ago, you couldn’t spot me without a drink in my hand.

Six nights a week.
Out with friends.
Partying like the world was ending.
Because that was just “being social,” right?

2 weeks ago, I went out with a big group of guys.
Heavy hitters in my industry.
Drinks everywhere.
Shots going around like candy.

And me?
I had zero urge to join in.

So, what changed?

Simple.
I met my wife.

She never touched alcohol.
(No objection to it, just never wanted it).

Our early dates?
I felt like the odd one out, always ordering a drink while she just smiled and sipped water.
To be honest, it made me pay attention to my habits for the first time.

Over time, things shifted.
One less drink here, one less there.
The wild nights faded.
Now, it’s maybe a drink or two, and only for a real celebration.

Turns out, the right person doesn’t just accept you - they actually make you better, whether you realize it or not.

Wild how someone else’s example can rewrite your own story.

Ever had someone change your life without trying?
Share yours or tag them.

wknd-investments

familygiftsco

JSESSIONID

li_at

Talks about #ecommerce, #marketing, #acquisitions, and #entrepreneurship

8-Figure Agency COO | Helping Ecomm & Digital Marketing Agency Owners Build $5M/yr Self-Managing Profit Machines | Proud Girl Dad | 7-Figure Agency Exit

Jordan West

E-Com Investor & Podcast Host | Multiple Exits| Avid Golfer, Biker + Hiker | Dad Of 3 | CEO + CMO | Mastermind Host

My Journey 
When I was 23 I decided to buy a Taco Del Mar restaurant... I knew I had made a huge mistake at 2pm the first day when only 3 customers had walked in... (and two of them were my parents haha) 
For 5 years I worked hard to grow sales every way I could think of and in the end, tripled our revenue which still didn't seem to matter on the profit side. (I lost a lot of money 💰)

The one thing that I seemed to be the best at in the restaurant endeavor was marketing and getting people in the door. 

Fast forward to 2014 when my wonderful wife Carmen (definitely my better half) started a modest baby clothing line and was selling at craft markets. 

I asked if I could test running a few ads on Facebook... and the rest is history. I learned every up-and-coming strategy and tactic and helped grow the small start-up to a multi-million dollar company and still growing!

Since then we have acquired multiple DTC brands and have built an agency (upGrowth Commerce) to service our brands as well as others who are in a similar situation to us!

In 2019 we started the podcast "secrets to scaling your e-commerce brand" which is now in the top 50 business/marketing podcasts in multiple countries including Canada and the United States.

I love connecting with people, so please connect. (I do have a no a**holes policy though, so don't connect if that's you.) 

I talk all about scaling businesses using paid ads on “Secrets To Scaling Your E-Commerce Brand”.

We just helped a brand pass $3,000,000/month on TikTok Shop LAST MONTH and it wasn’t luck!!

We’re now ranked as one of the Top 5 TikTok agencies in North America at Social Commerce Club!!

What I've seen is... 

Most brands have no clue what the investment into TikTok Shop ACTUALLY LOOKS LIKE!

They guess when to spend, when to restock, or when they’ll hit break-even.

We don’t guess.

We plan every move using a forecasting system we built in-house. 

It shows exactly:

 📈 When to scale and how fast
 💸 When you’ll hit break-even
 📊 How much to invest in creators, inventory, and ad spend
 ⚙️ When to pull back or double down

That system is the same one we use daily to manage multi-million-dollar TikTok Shop brands.

And now, we’ve decided to make it available to other operators.

If you want the same forecasting tool we use to plan, invest, and measure scale... comment “Forecast” and I’ll DM it to you. 

(must be connected)

Let me know what you think!

I want to be clear 🫠 
These daily random TikTok Shop GMV MAX screenshots that I share are from ADS driven results ONLY 🤩 

This doesn't include organic affiliate driven content 

I feel like the guy in 2015 trying to tell his friends that Facebook ads work (I was that guy lol) while the majoirty of people were waiting...

I realize that if you haven't gone HARD on TikTok shop you won't be able to to before BFCM 

But... 2026 will be the BIGGEST SHIFT into social commerce that we have seen. 

As AI content becomes more prevalent, HUMANS will crave human connection 

Which is why I believe that LIVE SHOPPING + Afilliate driven content will be the two biggest levers any brand can add to their arsensal. 

So what is my recomendation for bransnds in 2026? 

1. Talk to my team NOW to get in line at Social Commerce Club
2. If you can't afford us... I'll send you recommendations for cheaper agencies
3. If you're just trying to dip your toes in the water of TikTok shop join my skool group here https://lnkd.in/gMAu-gDZ

Me: “If you had one controversial take on what brands get wrong on TikTok Shop… what is it?”
Zohaib Rattu 🤳: “Over-subsidizing their products.”

Me: “Not could be cannibalizing your other channels… you ARE.”

That moment hit hard!!!

Because here’s what a lot of brands are doing right now:

They take their main hero SKU
Sell it full price everywhere else

Then make it stupid cheap on TikTok Shop “just to get sales” + get momentum

And then they’re shocked when

Amazon flatlines

TOTAL MER blows up

Retail partners start asking questions
TikTok didn’t break your unit economics.

You did!!

The way I think about TikTok Shop:

It’s the only channel that will pay you (even breakeven) to give you insane impressions.
If you even make $1 profit there

And you’re getting a $30 CPM worth of awareness for free
You’re winning.

The problem...

Most brands aren’t tracking the halo.
So they see “low-margin TikTok orders”

Instead of “cheap reach that lifts Amazon / Shopify / retail”.

If I were rebuilding your TikTok Shop strategy from scratch, I’d do 3 things:

1️⃣ Protect the hero
 
No more “fire sale” pricing on the SKU that drives your brand.
 Use:

 – Smaller bundles
 – Trial sizes
 – TikTok-only variants
 
And keep price architecture consistent across channels.

2️⃣ Define your blended model
 
Decide up front:
 – What MER are you happy with including TikTok
 – How you’ll measure halo (Amazon, Shopify, retail lift)
 – What CPM you’re effectively getting from organic + creator content

If TikTok is breakeven but blended MER is up and CPMs are down… keep going.

3️⃣ Make TikTok the awareness engine, not the profit center (at first) 
 
Creators get you reach.
 
Reach fills retargeting pools on Meta, Google, Amazon, retail.
 
Your job is to:

 – Seed a ton of creators
 – Let TikTok Shop break even
 – Harvest the profit off-platform

TikTok Shop doesn’t have to be “super profitable”. (at first)

It has to be super scalable.

Curious where you’re at...
 Are you still discounting your main hero SKU heavily on TikTok Shop? 

Or have you already pulled that back?

You’re talented?
Great! Let me tell you what matters more… 
And why talent is the thing that I look for last 👇👇 

Are you complainer? 
Are you a victim?
Do you not have a growth mindset?
Can you not take criticism?
Do you have a fragile Ego? 
Is it everything everybody else’s fault?


 if you answered, yes to any of the above, I don’t want you in any of my organizations.

If you are thinking to yourself, oh man, I have these people in my organization… do everything in your power to first coach and correct, but most likely you need to remove them. 

It’s incredible What will happen when you do! 

Anyone else with me?

Big ask LinkedIn 🙏
We’re looking for a head of live shopping at Social Commerce Club 

Will be insane growth over the next 5 years 

Maybe one of the biggest ops that I can think of TBH 

Will be sooooooo much work

But you will help us build something HUGE! 

NA based only 

Message me if you think it’s you. 

This role will report directly to the CEO btw

Yes yes yes 

We have been thinking more about what this role looks like from the agency perspective.

How we train fast

Who’s base knowledge makes them a good fit etc. 

And I will tell you what I know. 

99% of people don’t get it. 

They haven’t had the paradigm shift yet. 

It’s a new muscle 

It’s a new way of thinking. 

Working with creators is HARD! 

They don’t perform like ads do 😆

But this role is really big in terms of impact and responsibility 

Seems like more brands are catching on. 

But tbh I still feel like guy in 2014 telling their friends to invest as much as they can into Facebook ads and they laugh at me 🤷‍♂️🫤 when it comes to how big social commerce really is going to be!

Here’s how I look at this…

At Social Commerce Club we… 

1. take the highest performing tiktok shop content

2. Offer a percentage of ad spend (capped) to the creator to use their content on Meta 

3. Print brands cash with these ads omnichannel 

This is the 2025 playbook imo

Yesterday I was driving with my son who’s 6… 

We saw a bunch of billboards and he was asking about the messages on each

It reminded me of the classic Tim Ferris question… so I decided to ask him

“If you could put one message on a Billboard, what would it be?” 

He took about 3 seconds and said 

“My message would be “I love you””

This kid gets it ❤️

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The Battle

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Jordan West

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The Battle

Kyle Hunt

Jordan West

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);}Kyle Hunt's LinkedIn Performance

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