Agency Darlings

There's a particular type of lead that does more damage to your confidence than any other: the price shopper. They're not looking for expertise. They're not prioritizing outcomes. They're laser-focused on getting the lowest number, and the conversation they drag you into can leave you questioning everything about your business. In this episode, Melissa and Meredith unpack one of the most frustrati...

Most agencies are obsessed with finding new leads. They're spending time and money on cold outreach, networking, and lead gen tactics, all while ignoring the goldmine sitting in their inbox: past conversations that never closed. In this episode, Melissa and Meredith tackle one of the most underrated skills in business development: the art of the follow-up. Spoiler: "just checking in" isn't a strat...

Over the past decade, Lauryn Warnick has quietly built Villain Branding into a trusted partner for high-growth B2B companies navigating moments where brand decisions carry real weight, scale, complexity, leadership alignment, and pressure. In the past two years, she's doubled Villain's revenue, putting the firm in the rare 2% of women-owned businesses to cross the seven-figure threshold. But that...

Leadership is hard. Leading while running a business, managing a team of freelancers, and trying not to burn yourself out in the process? Even harder. In this episode, Melissa and Meredith sit down with Steve Guberman , founder of Agency Outsight, former agency owner who scaled to 12 people before selling, and now an agency coach who's helped hundreds of founders navigate the messy middle of growt...

We're seeing it everywhere: nearly every agency we work with is in the middle of a pivot right now or has pivoted in the past year. We're in a particular moment of needing to pivot, given what's happening in the world. According to the 2025 Agency Growth Benchmark report, over 60% of agencies between $500K and $3M in revenue undergo a positioning or offer reset every two to four years. And that's...

You think you know what clients want. You've read the case studies, perfected your pitch deck, and rehearsed your differentiators. But what if you've been optimizing for the wrong things entirely? This week, we're pulling back the curtain with Rachel Huff , founder of Victoire & Co , an agency search consultancy that helps client-side leaders find the right agency partners. Rachel has spent he...

A lot of agency owners think winning big clients is about fancy credential decks, bigger case studies, or the perfect pitch presentation. It's not. It's a psychology game, not a proposal game. And if you're stuck in the small budget, high-maintenance client cycle, it's rarely because your work isn't good enough—it's because of the energy you're bringing, the positioning you're claiming, and the de...

Most agency founders have been charging the same rates since 2021. You've given your team raises. Your costs have gone up. The economy has shifted. But your pricing? Still stuck at that number you picked three years ago based on vibes and what you saw other agencies charging. Today, we're handing you the formula to stop pricing emotionally and start pricing strategically. We break down the 2x mult...

How to actually enjoy the money your agency is making without guilt, chaos, or burnout. That's the conversation Melissa and Meredith are having today, darling—because too many successful founders are still living like freelancers. You're hitting revenue goals. You're paying contractors, employees, covering taxes and expenses. But you're not paying yourself what you're worth. You're taking tiny dis...

Playing it safe got you here. But thinking small won't get you there. While most agency owners are planning incremental 20% growth, darling, we're challenging you to think exponentially bigger. Because your biggest year isn't going to come from optimizing what you're already doing. It's going to come from completely reimagining what's possible. In this solo episode, Melissa and Meredith break down...

Nothing drains boutique agencies faster than the black hole of pitching and RFPs. In today’s episode, we’re pulling back the curtain on a topic that every agency owner privately obsesses over, but very few talk about honestly: why pitches rarely convert, why proposals don’t win business, and why most agencies are building their entire biz dev system on a process that statistically works against th...

If you’ve ever hired someone you thought was “the one,” only to watch your team unravel behind the scenes, this episode will feel like a deep exhale. Today, we’re sitting down with Natasha Golinsky, the powerhouse founder behind On Purpose Projects, to talk about the part of agency ownership that most founders quietly struggle with: building a reliable team you can actually trust. Natasha is known...

You know that sinking feeling when your sales pipeline starts to dry up? When the big deal you were sure would close suddenly stalls, and your perfectly forecasted month starts to look like a desert? We’ve all been there, darling. In this week’s episode, we’re naming it, reframing it, and turning it into your next big growth moment. We call it Pipeline Panic — that all-too-familiar moment when the...

In this episode of Agency Darlings, hosts Melissa and Meredith provide an insider's guide to the ups and downs of the agency world, emphasizing the importance of vulnerability and empathy, especially during challenging times. They discuss the pressures of balancing work and personal struggles, particularly around the holidays, and share personal experiences of grief and loss to highlight the signi...

The agency world doesn’t reward those who cling to “how it’s always been done.” It rewards the ones brave enough to redesign their business around what actually works — and what actually matters. In this powerful conversation, we sit down with Amy Jackson, founder and CEO of TaleSplash, to talk about what it really looks like to evolve your agency in real time. Over the past year, Amy has made bol...

There’s a sneaky trap that almost every small agency falls into at some point: trying to be everything to everyone. And honestly? We’ve been there too. When you’re in the early stages, saying yes to every service, every client, every shiny opportunity can feel like the smart, safe thing to do. But the truth is, trying to do it all is the fastest way to burn out your team, confuse your clients, and...

The agency world was never meant to be a one-character show. In a culture that glorifies doing it all at once — CEO, visionary, mom, partner, friend, athlete — we’re often left feeling like we’re failing at all of it. But what if the key to thriving wasn’t about finding “perfect balance”… but about owning intentional imbalance? This week, we sit down with Amanda Goetz, 2x founder, 4x CMO, mom of t...

We’ve all been there: you have a great discovery call, you’re vibing with the lead, and then… silence. No follow-up, no next steps, not even a polite “we’ve gone in a different direction.” They’ve vanished into the business void. Ghosting isn’t just for bad Tinder dates. In the agency world, it happens more often than anyone wants to admit. But here’s the thing: not every ghost is gone forever — a...

Are you tired of feeling like just another option on a client’s spreadsheet? Same. In this episode, we’re calling out the biggest trap agencies keep falling into: commoditization. That’s the fancy word for “clients treating you like you’re interchangeable,” which basically translates to constant price haggling, razor-thin margins, and burnout city. No thanks. Here’s the truth: you’re probably play...

Too many agencies think discounting is good customer service. They're missing the bigger picture. Every time you slash your prices to "make a deal work," you're not just losing money, you're systematically undermining your own value proposition and teaching clients that your original pricing was negotiable all along. This isn't about being difficult; it's about running a business that respects its...

The business guidance over the last few years has felt like someone telling you to sit quietly and wait for rescue. That's not the energy we're bringing, darling. While others are dwelling on how challenging things have been, the agencies absolutely flourishing right now have discovered something powerful: they're not building their empire for someday - they're building it for today. In this empow...

This episode is sponsored by Metricool. Get 30 days free of any Premium plan with code: Darlings and at Metricool.com/Darlings . In this season finale of Agency Darlings , Melissa and Meredith sit down to talk about one of the most critical topics for agency founders: pricing with confidence . They share mindset shifts and practical strategies to help you own your value, set better rates, and navi...

This episode is sponsored by Metricool. Get 30 days free of any Premium plan with code: Darlings and at Metricool.com/Darlings . In today’s episode, Melissa and Meredith are joined by Rebecca Sollinger, Chief Brand Officer at ARMRA and longtime brand leader with experience across powerhouse agencies like Droga5 and RoAndCo, as well as lifestyle brands like Sakara Life and Quiksilver. With a rare p...

In today’s episode, Melissa and Meredith are joined by Shaina Anderson, founder of Hello Generalist , for a real talk on building effective teams through fractional support. With a deep background scaling startups like Yelp and Choose, Shaina offers a front-row view into the shifting workforce and how creative agency founders can build smarter, leaner teams—without compromising on talent. From und...

Episode description: In today’s episode, Melissa goes solo for a quick pep talk on the myth of "I'm bad at sales." She dives into how sales is a skill anyone can learn and how women, in particular, have natural strengths that make them amazing at sales. Melissa shares her own journey from hesitating to lead in business development to building a career in sales, while offering practical advice on h...