Team Up, Earn More: Why Micro‑Agencies Are Winning Bigger Projects

Jennie Wright [00:00:02]:
Hey everybody. Welcome back to the Acquire podcast. I’m your host, Jenny Wright. I’m a digital marketer, lead gen expert, CMO amongst a whole bunch of other things. And this podcast we talk about list building, lead generation, sales, marketing growth, scaling, all these different things. And today what I want to talk to you about is how you can sort of knit together a group of seemingly unassociated people to create a micro agency. It’s the really cool thing that you can do, a freelance micro agency. And this is how if you are a solopreneur doing what it is that you do best as a copywriter, a digital marketer, maybe you are a website builder or a landing page expert, this is how you can connect and knit together with other people in the same sort of group and you can actually land bigger clients.

Jennie Wright [00:00:59]:
I’m talking from experience here because I’ve done this, I have done this several times. Once during the pandemic, actually a couple times during the pandemic with different people in order to keep my business alive because I couldn’t get enough solo clients at the time. But together with, you know, two different really talented people, I was able to land larger clients at the time which I didn’t think I would have access to. And then I was able to support those clients and it actually helped my business a lot. So if you ever wanted to close larger clients and you’re struggling because the client wants more than what you can offer, or you’re struggling to land those larger clients because the client wants an end to end solution and you’re not what that per, you know, you’re not what that is. You don’t do that. This is the solution for them. This is exactly why many people in this space, including myself, as freelancers, we find that this is a really great option.

Jennie Wright [00:02:04]:
And this is where this idea of a micro agency comes in. Let me explain it a little bit and then let me get into the cogs and wheels about it a little bit just to put you at rest because you might be going, well, depending on how you are, you could be the type of person who’s going to. But Jenny, there’s a lot of like, you know, do I form a company with these people? Do I do all this kind of stuff? We’re going to get into that, okay? Don’t worry about that. So let’s first talk about what a micro agency is. Let’s talk about how you can grow this piece and it doesn’t mean that you have to lose the rest of your company. I sure as Heck didn’t. I still ran my, my business, I still got my own solo clients, but I was able to come together with some really talented people in order to help. Right.

Jennie Wright [00:02:44]:
So think of two to six independent professionals who haven’t formed a formal group, but forming a loose knit group, a team that delivers end to end services without being a traditional agency, without having that traditional overhead. So why is this something that I want you to think about as we continue into the, you know, the second half of 2015? Because clients are looking for more holistic solutions because businesses are hiring few full timers and they’re going way more on the flexible experts. I know that I am. And remote collaboration tools still make tons of sense. It’s so much easier as we, you know, as the years go on, it’s getting easier and easier to continue to collaborate. And also freelancers want to stay nimble about pitching bigger projects. So I’ll give you an example. So in 20, I’d say 2021 or 2022, I created, well, I didn’t create it.

Jennie Wright [00:03:48]:
I, alongside three other really cool freelancers, formed one of those loose knit teams. Myself, the digital marketer, the lead generation expert. We had a copywriter, we had a social media expert, and the three of us were able to come together and you know, again, end to end solution for particular clients. We ended up closing clients that we wouldn’t have normally had access to in order to be able to charge a higher price, which we were able to split quite equally three ways, which was fantastic. I had never made money like that before. I was used to doing summits. I was used to doing summits and making, you know, not nearly as much as I was making with these two. And because, and this is the, this is one of the parts I love the most is I have leads coming to me.

Jennie Wright [00:04:41]:
The copywriter had leads coming to them, the social media expert had leads coming to them, but everybody wanted something more. And so we were able to pitch on these projects as a group and not just, well, you know what, that’s great that you want to launch this new product. I can take care of the lead generation part, but you still need somebody to do your ads, or I can take care of the landing page component, but you still need somebody to write your copy. Now with the advent of AI, obviously a lot has changed, but there still is a really clear and distinct need for copywriters. And I think there’ll always be a distinct need for somebody in the digital marketing space. Things change so quickly and lead generation constantly is something that Needs a lot of tending to. Right? So there was a study back in 2024, Upwork did this, okay. And they found that 59% of freelancers had recently collaborated with at least one other independent pro on a client project.

Jennie Wright [00:05:40]:
And multidisciplinary teams win 37% larger contracts on average. So Upwork did that report. And so when you’re able to come together with other people, you have the chance of making more money. You also have the chance of getting in front of more potential clients, because, again, you’re pooling your leads together. And what I love about this is, again, bigger contracts, less hustle, okay? You still have the flexibility of running your own business without feeling like you’re stuck in the box with these other people. So you can loosely come in, join, do your work, and you can still run your business and grow. For me, I thought it was an incredible opportunity because I was looking not to pivot, but I was looking to expand my scope, right? You know, there’s only so many summits I wanted to do. There’s only so many landing pages I wanted to do.

Jennie Wright [00:06:34]:
I wanted to see the other sides of this, and I wanted access to some bigger clients. And so all three of us were bringing in leads. We were able to close some pretty cool people, work on some really amazing projects, and make some really freaking good money doing it all during the pandemic, right? Which was fantastic. And what it also does is it creates a shared visibility. Your teammates, like I was saying, bring their audiences with them and their reputations, which is fantastic. And then the client perception, this one is a doozy. You look like you have a more robust business. You look more established maybe than you are or were.

Jennie Wright [00:07:15]:
Without any of the overhead of a traditional agency, without any of the hassle of a traditional agency. You don’t have to think or incorporate a name or a business. You don’t have to worry about the overhead expenses of that because you’re all independent contractors. You don’t need to buy software that you all. I mean, somebody’s got a free Slack somewhere. And Google, you know, Google Teams is free to use, which is great. Or Google Meet, I should say. And then having Google Drive, right? You could run an entire business on those three things.

Jennie Wright [00:07:47]:
And they’re all free, which is fantastic. And so if you’re the person sitting out there and you are at the point where you’re scaling, and I know most of the time I’m speaking to established people, and I hope that I have and, you know, analytics tell me that there’s A lot of people that listen to acquire that are at different levels. And so if you are a freelancer and you are trying to scale and that is a struggle, then it’s, this is a really great idea. And I’ve, and I’ve done this, I said, multiple times. So I did it one in, you know, once in 20, 21. I’ve done it a couple times since to great success. But I will build in some caveats into that. All right? Some cautionary words of wisdom.

Jennie Wright [00:08:29]:
Everybody has to pull their weight. Okay? So if you have a project that is, you know, 30 or 40 grand and there’s three of you, you have to decide whether you’re going to split it threesies, like, you know, three ways evenly, or if one person’s going to get more because their skill set’s bigger or they’re adding more to the project. And so you really have to have those frank conversations with the others. And you also have to stand up for yourself. I remember distinctly working with another person, and that person took the lion’s share. And it’s not because I didn’t speak up for myself. I actually didn’t think I was, I was worth it. I didn’t think that I deserved, you know, to have half.

Jennie Wright [00:09:11]:
And then I spoke up and I said, look, I really think that what I bring to the table is pretty darn good. And I really think that I should get, you know, between 40 to 50%. And we agreed, you know, 45 looked good, and then the next time it was 50, because quite honestly, I was bringing more to the table than I had been or that or that they had perceived. And so be really careful about the people that you choose to do this model with. You need to make sure that there’s complete alignment and honesty. I don’t know if you have to draw up contracts. That’s not my thing. I’m more of a human agreement.

Jennie Wright [00:09:46]:
I agree not to screw you over, and I agree to do everything that I said I was going to do, and I agree to deliver it on time and go from there, Right? So it’s a fab, incredible way to get up and get some new clients. I love this. So one of the things that I recommend, if you’re thinking of doing this and you have some people in mind, awesome. Here’s how I built out and the people that I worked with did, and here’s how I recommend you build out your little micro agency. And again, it can be temporary or it can be long term. I’ve had temporary ones and I’ve had one that lasted like five years. Okay, still did my own stuff. Came together with this person to do work together.

Jennie Wright [00:10:24]:
So one, define the core services that you all bring to the table. What can you do? What can the other person do? What’s missing that another partner that you could bring in could do? Do you need design, copy, ads, tech? What does that all look like? What tools does everybody have available and what are they willing to support or participate in with the usage of those tools and then looking for ideal clients. Now the majority of the reasons why these little micro agencies come together, or at least in my experience, is because one of the people that’s going to be involved has a lead that said they want end to end, that said they want more than what that person is able to do. And then they go, oh yeah, I know people who can do that. And then you reach out. Right? And so another good example would be one of the companies that I’m currently working with. When I came on board, they were like, oh my God, we need a systems person. We need somebody who can do and build out systems in like ghl.

Jennie Wright [00:11:25]:
I said, I know somebody incredible for that. They’re like a wizard. And so I brought that person in on, on the projects and so I can do the strategy, I can lay that strategy out for the operation side. The, the, the actual like cogs and wheels and this person builds it. And because that person and I speak the exact same sort of tech language, I can say it and they can build it out. Huge win for me. So I don’t have to actually build it out. I can focus on my core, you know, my core job with that client, which is more marketing centric and that other person can build out the ops.

Jennie Wright [00:12:02]:
Awesome. Right? You really also have to, like I said a little bit earlier, you have to have that structured conversation, that partnership conversation. How are you going to share duties? How are you going to share the funds and the money that’s going to come in? What is your profit split? Like I like a flat, you know, everybody gets the same thing kind of thing and then whoever brings in the lead gets a bonus. Right. Because one person, excuse me, one person usually ends up bringing in the leads. Not everybody does. So I think that person should get a little bit more. Or are you going to do per hour? Which I, by the way, I do not recommend flat fee only.

Jennie Wright [00:12:43]:
It’s the way to go. And then are you going to brand it or not? I didn’t, I don’t think you need to. You can if you want. And Then you’re looking at more of a formal thing. But a shared name or a shared website can really support this project if you want it to. But it’s not necessary. Not necessary at all. Right.

Jennie Wright [00:13:04]:
A couple more pitfalls I’d like you to kind of think about so that you don’t run into the situation is making sure that there’s no clear decision path, which equals confusion. So one of the ways that I’ve done it with the people I’ve worked with on this in a micro agency was if it’s not a hell yes, then it’s a hell no. And so, you know, if one person was like, I’m not really feeling this, it’s not really that great, then it was something that you didn’t really do. You have to decide if it feels like there’s an uneven workload or mismatched skill levels. How are you going to handle that? Which is why those really clear conversations have to happen before any client work happens. Don’t get too gung ho thinking, oh my God, I’m going to make some cash here, and then realize that you’re the one doing 80% of the work while the other person’s doing 20, but they’re getting 50% of the funds. That really sucks. That happened to me in 2019, and I was really pissed off about it.

Jennie Wright [00:14:02]:
Take a look at things like client ownership of disputes. Who’s going to be the front person to handle any client dispute if it comes up? How are you going to handle Scope Creep? Because everybody just assumes that somebody else is doing it. How are you going to avoid arguments, disagreements? How are you going to handle contracts? How are you going to handle shared project management tools? What are you guys going to use? And then also, how are you going to set up check ins, meetings, updates, deadlines, you know, are you going to use Asana? Like, what is your tool? Right. And so project management. Let’s talk about the tech stack for this. Okay? Project management software. You can use Asana, ClickUp, Trello, all of those work shared file storage. I’m always going to recommend Google Drive and not Dropbox, but that’s just me.

Jennie Wright [00:14:53]:
Communication, 100% do slack. I mean, that should be just standard at this point. And then invoicing, one person is going to do all the invoicing and then pays everybody out internally. Okay, so determine what that’s going to be. Is that going to be on somebody’s, you know, Gusto account? Freshbooks, what is it? Right. QuickBooks, Harlow Bonsai. You know, how are you guys Going to figure this out, figure all that out ahead of time. So there’s no ambiguity when you’re actually trying to get this sorted.

Jennie Wright [00:15:23]:
And so you’re not going to have the issues that, you know, maybe somebody like me ran into. Not saying I did. No, actually I did. 2019 was a poopy year for that. I collaborated with somebody and quite honestly, if I’m really transparent, I did benefit from the collaboration. I got exposure to a larger group of people than I had ever been able to get exposure to. So that part I’m really grateful for. And then we moved into more of a collaboration where it was like, okay, so let’s start running a membership and providing, you know, this membership service to help people and make money and, you know, let’s do this.

Jennie Wright [00:16:05]:
And that sounded awesome. I was enjoying working with this person, you know, still think they’re a good person. But what I found is that when it came to creating this membership, because I am, you know, quick to get things done, I was the one doing everything. So I was. I was creating the landing page, I was setting up the membership, I was creating the link to sell it, I was creating the social posts, I was doing all that kind of stuff. And the other person wasn’t doing nearly as much like 15% of what I felt I was doing. Now, that person might think that they were doing more, and that’s totally okay. Their story, their thing, but I felt like I was doing the lion’s share.

Jennie Wright [00:16:44]:
And so that membership dissolved pretty quick. And unfortunately, the, you know, the working relationship and the friendship did too. So that was a learning curve for me, you know, and I wish the person well. But I’ve done it again a couple of times. And what I will say is that I’ve benefited, or I feel like I’ve benefited in the business side, but also in the emotional growth side in my sort of like, soft toolbox side of things like learning skills and understanding things. And so the experiences have never really gone to waste. And I found that it’s helped propel my business forward. And so I owe a lot of credit to working in these little micro agencies in order to have moved things forward quite dramatically so much.

Jennie Wright [00:17:34]:
So the last time I’ve collaborated with somebody, it actually landed me one of my current clients. And I’m really grateful. Like, I’m super grateful. So actually, two of my current clients came from that collaboration. So when I’m saying that, you know, having this micro agency can be beneficial 100%. And can you have multiples? Yes, absolutely. And will I do it again abso freaking lutely because it helps move you forward. And so shorter episode today, but for the reason that, you know, there’s not a ton that needs to be like thought out here.

Jennie Wright [00:18:10]:
Just find people that you can vibe with, that you work well with, that provide the service that you can’t, but do it in a really great way that complements your style, that you get along with. And then if you get on a sales call with a potential client that you guys vibe and can like bounce off of each other to close a client. Right, that’s really important. And so unless you have decided to be the front person and that person’s in the back end alternatively, and this has been the model that I’ve sort of shifted over to is I have a team of VAs and I have my own little micro agency with these VAs. I have, you know, six, eight VAs. And every time a client hires me, you know, that that team kind of comes with me. And what has happened is, you know, I’ve just said, hey, you can. If you need additional help, the people on my team are available for additional hours and the client has actually hired some of the people on my team in part time capacity outside of the of the that I do.

Jennie Wright [00:19:12]:
And so I’m supporting these people getting more employment than I can give them. So I can give them part time hours. But now they’re like filling up their rosters with additional clients and it benefits me because I can provide that end to end solution for the client coming right out the gate. And that’s really great. And you know, I think it’s fab that I can support these people and help them that way. So micro agency, is this something you want to do? Is it something that you’ve thought about? Maybe not. And if this episode has helped kind of enlighten you as to what it is, awesome. Think about it.

Jennie Wright [00:19:44]:
Think about how you can collaborate with people because it will move your business forward. When you think about the kind of questions that might come up that you might be thinking is, you know, hey, I like being alone. I like being in the loner, doing my own thing. Great. Perfect. Is your client roster full? Are clients expecting more from you than you’re able to give? Are they wanting more of that end to end solution and is that making you lose potential clients now and also in the future? Right. Additionally, be prepared for when these collaborations eventually end. Some do, some don’t.

Jennie Wright [00:20:22]:
The ones that are going to end is because either, you know, there’s no more leads that need the collaboration that you’re providing. Maybe, you know, it doesn’t work out with you guys or it’s not something that you, you know, you, you need for the long term. So think about all of that. Get those clear conversations and make sure that you’re really, really honest, not only with yourself, but with each other, so that there’s never any ambiguity. That is like the thing that kills this is not talking about the big things or the bad things. So make sure that you do that as well. All right, quick episode for you all. Enjoy your week.

Jennie Wright [00:21:00]:
Can’t wait to share some stuff that’s coming up. Obviously, the 100th episode of Acquire is coming up. It’ the corner. Very excited about this. Didn’t, honestly didn’t really have it on my radar so, so much. But it’s here and I’m excited. 100 episodes came up fast, if I’m quite honest. And I’m just really grateful.

Jennie Wright [00:21:21]:
If you’ve been listening to this podcast. I’d love to know how long you’ve been listening to it for. We are in almost every country now with listeners. I think the only country that’s not showing up on the map is like, Greenland at this point, so. And maybe a couple other ones. But I am so grateful, so grateful to everybody who listens. I would love to hear what you think. Let me know if there’s something you want to hear about.

Jennie Wright [00:21:44]:
Go ahead and leave a review on Apple or wherever it is that you listen to your podcasts. And thank you again so much for listening to Acquire. We’ll talk to you all soon. Take care.