How to Downsize Your Agency, With Carson Pierce

Points of Interest

• 0:00 – 0:23 – Small Cuts, Big Impact: Marcel explains how trimming small recurring expenses added up to $7K/month in potential savings.
• 1:32 – 2:44 – Market Uncertainty Hits Everyone: Carson highlights how client indecision is stalling agency pipelines across the industry.
• 3:04 – 3:23 – Opportunity in Unstable Times: Marcel frames uncertainty as a chance to optimize, streamline, and future-proof the business.
• 4:02 – 4:36 – Sales Slowdowns and Staffing Pressure: Agencies must balance shrinking pipelines with existing team and overhead costs.
• 5:02 – 5:25 – Avoiding Cost-Cutting Traps: Downsizing without strategy can hollow out delivery capacity and worsen long-term profitability.
• 6:02 – 6:36 – Overhead First, Not Production: Carson shares a personal lesson on the importance of reducing overhead over core delivery staff.
• 8:05 – 9:56 – Balancing Optimism and Cash Management: Founders must weigh hopeful projections against real cash reserves to avoid crisis.
• 12:04 – 13:19 – Trigger-Based Decision Rules: Carson suggests creating clear, data-driven thresholds for when to take action—before it’s too late.
• 17:03 – 17:22 – Austerity Exercise Yields Results: Marcel’s audit of seemingly small expenses uncovered significant monthly savings.
• 21:01 – 22:37 – Smooth Transitions Are Possible: Fears around losing key people are often overstated—teams adapt and grow stronger.
• 27:12 – 28:13 – Use a Payroll Grid for Clarity: Marcel introduces a framework for assessing roles, costs, and time allocation to guide decisions.
• 34:10 – 35:06 – Profitability Benchmarks to Follow: Aim for ≤50% of income to delivery, ≤30% to overhead, and utilization of at least 50–60%.

Show Notes

• Connect with Carson via LinkedIn
• Get access to this model tool in the toolkit
• Parakeeto Foundations Course
• Free access to our Model Platform
• Podcast on benchmarking

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