Ryan O'Keeffe

We don’t build Personal Brands, we empower you to build your own | Personal Brand Strategy & Activation | Forbes Contributor | Speaker | People Promoter

For most leaders, personal branding is essential, it generate leads, build trust, and helps you stand out in crowded markets.  It supports the brand-awareness and reputation of the business you work for. 

At Jago®, we understand that building a powerful personal brand and authentic leadership takes more than just visibility - it requires a clear strategy, self-awareness, and the courage to be your true-self. 

Our approach helps corporate teams and business leaders amplify their reputatation through:

✅ Self-awareness and emotional intelligence to enhance leadership
✅ Strategic authority positioning for credibility
✅ Storytelling that drives lead generation, brand awareness and growth
✅ Social selling techniques for meaningful engagement

Our proven process combines emotional intelligence, storytelling, and strategic action to build both visibility and influence.

⭐️ 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸
🔗 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗷𝗮𝗴𝗼.𝗰𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 ⭐️

Founder

Helping leaders gain clarity and confidence to master their reputation.  Personal Branding. 

Take our free Personal Brand Health Check at www.wearejago.com.

Great to spend time with the ladies from LAYA - Lead As You Are. 

Time to level the playing field in UK real estate funds.

Personal Brand Strategy & Activation | Emotional Intelligence Advocate | Build Your Reputation & Drive Growth | Founder

Executive Coach, ICF accredited,Public Speaker,Facilitator,Educator-3K + Followers Personal Branding,Leadership,Teaming, Business strategy

View Marie-Laure, Humbert  ICF (She/Her)’s profile

AI, Personal Brand and EQ: 
The A Team 

AI is enhancing our efficiency, it’s time to rethink how we invest our time and focus on our career growth! 
This is what we discussed last week with the members of the LAYA - Lead As You Are  group and Ryan O'Keeffe  personal branding expert.

As we leverage technology to streamline tasks, we must prioritize our personal brand and our visibility.

But here’s the kicker: Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is a **key driver** in shaping that brand. It’s not just about what you know; it’s about how you connect, communicate, and understand others more than ever. 

In a world increasingly influenced by AI, EQ will play a pivotal role in helping us stand out,build  trust, and foster authentic relationships. 
Anna Clare Harper Juan Du Ryan O'Keeffe

I help independent marketing agency owners break through growth ceilings, fix profit problems, and build STANDOUT businesses.

Answers are easy. Questions change everything.

In the age of AI, answers are everywhere. But answers alone don’t build great agencies. It’s the questions you ask that shape your thinking, challenge assumptions, and uncover the real opportunities for growth.

That’s where I come in.

With 25+ years in the agency world - first as CEO of a multi-million-pound agency, now as a trusted advisor - I don’t just give answers. I ask the questions agency owners haven’t considered. The ones that expose blind spots, unlock clarity, and lead to smarter decisions.

My work centres on the eight commercial levers that determine whether an agency stands still or stands out:

Sales & Marketing
Team
Ambition
Numbers
Development
Operations
Uniqueness
Technology

I help founders shift from reactive to proactive so they’re not just running an agency, but leading one.

Why work with me?

- Former CEO of a multi-million-pound, 175-person agency

- 8 years advising independent agencies (£500k–£1.5m revenue)

- Author of Standout or Die (Axiom Business Book Awards Silver Medal Winner)

- 25+ years in agency growth, leadership, and transformation

- Creator of the STANDOUT Agency System

If you’re an agency founder who wants more revenue, more profit, and more control - let’s talk.

Gareth Healey

OK, it's Friday so I thought it was time for a bit of honesty (and a degree of self-reflection). I've been considering...

Why does every growth advisor promise scale, but no one talks about fragility?

I guess it's simple...because growth sells. Control doesn’t.

Scroll LinkedIn and you’ll see it daily. Growth partners. Scale consultants. Fractional agency NEDs promising acceleration. More leads. Bigger retainers. Faster expansion.

But here is what I think is the uncomfortable truth for sub £2m agencies.

Growth often increases fragility.

I've seen it repeatedly. At £800k to £2m revenue, most agencies are not constrained by demand. They are constrained by structure.

You feel it at 2am.

If one client leaves, it hurts.
If two invoices are late, it hurts.
If you step back for a month, revenue slows.

From the outside, you look successful.
On the inside, it feels precarious.

So someone suggests adding £500k.

More leads. More sales pressure. More hires. More delivery strain.

If that extra revenue would increase stress rather than stability, the issue is not growth, it's  control.

Control means:

Revenue concentration that does not dictate your mood.
A pipeline that is predictable, not heroic.
Operational discipline that does not rely on you firefighting.
Leadership accountability that extends beyond the founder.

Most agencies under £2m don't need acceleration. They need structural strength. When structure is weak, growth amplifies the cracks. When structure is strong, growth becomes an opportunity rather than a solution.

If you need more leads, I'm not your advisor.

If you want structural control before scale, message me.

STANDOUT agencies build control before they scale.
STANDSTILL agencies chase growth and hope it stabilises.

Agency Advisor | Exited Agency Owner | Award-Winning Author of STANDOUT or Die | Agent of Change

Let’s be honest, things are not great in agency world right now.

Pipelines feel less predictable. Clients are slower to decide. Margins are tighter. Teams are stretched. 

In a challenging market, most agencies default to the same response - push harder on sales, cut a few costs, hope momentum returns.

Sometimes that works, often it masks deeper structural weaknesses.

That's exactly why we created the STANDOUT Agency System diagnostic.

- It's FREE (the most powerful word in marketing).
- It takes less than five minutes.
- It's 24 questions across the eight levers that actually drive agency performance.

So far, the average overall score is 66%.

That tells us something important. Even before market conditions tightened, many agencies were operating below their potential.

The weakest lever?

Sales and marketing - averaging just 54%.

No surprise. Too many agencies still rely on referrals and reactive opportunities. There is no consistent demand engine. No deliberate pipeline strategy. When the market slows, that fragility gets exposed quickly.

The second weakest lever is ambition - vision and planning.

This is where playing small becomes dangerous. If your growth intent is vague and your plan is loose, uncertainty amplifies drift. In tougher conditions, clarity of direction matters even more.

Third weakest is technology.

That is - very - concerning.

Technology is no longer optional leverage. It influences efficiency, pricing, delivery models and future relevance. Agencies underinvesting here are not just inefficient - they are extremely vulnerable.

Interestingly, the strongest lever so far is Uniqueness - positioning and proposition.

Encouraging. But positioning alone will not protect you in a tougher market. A strong agency is a balanced system, not one well-articulated idea sitting on shaky foundations.

This diagnostic is not about chasing a perfect score. It's about clarity.

In uncertain conditions, clarity is an advantage.

Where are you genuinely strong?
Where are you exposed?
Which lever, if strengthened, would most improve resilience and momentum over the next 12 months?

If you're serious about building a more visible, valuable and desirable agency - especially now - start with an honest assessment.

Five minutes. Eight levers. A clear view of where you really stand.

Take the diagnostic now:

https://lnkd.in/ehrWyxqb

You'll have heard this a million times already, but it's so important in needs to be talked about again and again.

I'm not one for scare mongering, but I am one for trying ti do my bit to help the sector I've built my career and life on, continue to thrive.
 
We all know the traditional agency model is under huge threat. AI is, and will continue to, redefine how much of our work gets done.

Agencies that ignore this shift will struggle to survive the next five years.

For decades, agency growth has relied on people-heavy production. More retainers meant more hires. More hires meant more revenue. Junior execs, assistants, account coordinators and trainees formed the engine room.

But AI is rapidly absorbing the very tasks that once justified those entry-level roles. Content drafts. Media analysis. Reporting. Research. Even basic strategy frameworks.

What used to require three people and a week can now be delivered by one person supported by intelligent systems in an afternoon.

This isn't a future prediction. It's happening now.

The real shift is not simply adopting AI tools. It's redesigning delivery around them.

STANDSTILL agencies will:

😫 Bolt AI onto outdated processes
😫 Use it to cut costs rather than elevate value
😫 Quietly reduce junior hiring without rethinking capability

STANDOUT agencies will:

😀 Build automation-first workflows
😀 Combine senior human judgment with AI powered output 
😀 Develop scalable knowledge systems that improve with every project

The agencies that treat AI purely as a cost-saving mechanism will hollow out their future leadership pipeline.

The agencies that treat AI as leverage will elevate their talent faster.

This is not about removing humans from the equation. It's about upgrading the human role.

Less production.
More judgement.

Less admin.
More insight.

The economics of agencies are changing. Headcount is no longer the primary growth lever. Intellectual capital and system design are.

The question is not whether AI will reshape the agency world. It already is.

The real question is whether you are redesigning your agency for that reality, or defending a model that is slowly becoming irrelvant.

STANDOUT agencies redesign before disruption.
STANDSTILL agencies react when margins collapse.

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The Battle

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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);}Ryan O'Keeffe's LinkedIn Performance

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