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PODCAST

The AgencyHabits Podcast

Peter Kang, Sei-Wook Kim

Go behind the scenes of real agency businesses. The AgencyHabits Podcast shares ideas, lessons, and experiments from across Barrel Holdings - home to a growing portfolio of specialized agencies and over two decades of insights. We share them all here, hoping you"ll test, tweak, and find what works best for your agency.

business management

All Episodes

26:07

Your Agency's ICP: Defining Who You're Built to Serve...

The AgencyHabits Podcast ·

2026/03/31

Your ICP isn't just who you target. It determines your sales cycle, your margins, and the quality of your clients. And most agencies get it completely wrong. Today, we break down the 5 dimensions of a real ICP and how to use them to improve your positioning, pipeline quality, and delivery. We also cover: Why "anyone with budget" is not an ICP How to avoid bad-fit clients (even if they have money) The concept of engagement yield (and negative yield) Why most outbound fails (and what to do

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29:13

How to Scale Business Development Beyond the Founder...

The AgencyHabits Podcast ·

2026/03/24

You can't scale your agency because everything still runs through you. And until that changes, no hire is going to fix it. In this episode, we break down why hiring a salesperson rarely works, and why business development in an agency isn't one role, it's actually five distinct functions. Most founders are juggling all of them at once: • Marketing & awareness • Partnerships • Outbound • Sales & closing • Account growth When you try to replace all of that with one hire, it fails. We unpack

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26:36

Service Offering: What You Actually Sell vs. What You...

The AgencyHabits Podcast ·

2026/03/17

Most agencies think their service offering is just a list of capabilities. Branding, web, SEO, paid media. But that's not what clients are actually buying. A real service offering is the structure of the client relationship, how someone starts working with you, how the engagement expands, and how value compounds over time. In this episode, we break down the anatomy of a strong service offering and explain why agencies that rely on a "menu of services" often struggle with long sales cycles,

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27:37

A Deep Dive into Agency Working Capital | EP30

The AgencyHabits Podcast ·

2026/03/10

Most agency owners obsess over revenue, margins, and utilization, but the thing that determines whether your agency feels financially strong or constantly stressed is working capital. Working capital is the timing gap between when you pay your team and when clients pay you. Two agencies can have the exact same P&L, same revenue, same profit, and still have wildly different cash realities depending on billing terms, payment method, and how much money is trapped in receivables or deferred revenue.

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17:07

The Importance of Leadership Offsites

The AgencyHabits Podcast ·

2026/03/03

Leadership offsites aren't a quarterly review. They're where your leadership team has the conversations you keep avoiding — and leaves with decisions you can actually execute. In this episode, we share the leadership offsite structure we've repeated and refined over years: how to prep the team, keep the agenda focused, and create an artifact that drives real follow-through. We also break down the exercises that worked, what didn't, and what we changed over time. We also unpack: Why preparation

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27:08

Mapping and Leveraging Your Agency Ecosystem | EP28

The AgencyHabits Podcast ·

2026/02/24

If your ideal client asked for a recommendation today, would your agency's name come up? Today, we break down ecosystems, what they are, what they aren't, and how they compound over time when you intentionally design them. We explain why positioning and service offerings are not the same as an ecosystem, and how depth inside the right one creates pricing power, referrals, and defensibility. We also unpack: Infrastructure ecosystems and why going deeper than the industry matters Why regulated

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29:37

Agency Profit Deep Dive: Gross Margin, Sales &...

The AgencyHabits Podcast ·

2026/02/17

Gross margin determines how much freedom your agency really has. If that number is weak, everything else becomes harder. Today, we break down gross margin, gross profit, and EBITDA and explain what healthy agency financials actually look like. We show why gross margin is the true funding source of your business and how low gross margin quietly limits growth. We also unpack: Why 50 percent plus gross margin should be the starting target What a healthy sales and marketing allocation looks like Why

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35:36

How Agencies Should Actually Use Data | EP26

The AgencyHabits Podcast ·

2026/02/10

Most agencies already collect plenty of data, but very few use it well. Instead of clarity, leaders end up with dashboards, noise, and gut decisions. In this episode, we share a practical way to use data to make better agency decisions without overwhelming your team or building complex reporting. Data is not about more reports. It is about recognizing patterns that help you make clearer, faster decisions as an agency leader. Today on The AgencyHabits Podcast, we walk through five practical lenses

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21:06

Turning Every New Client Opportunity Into an Agency's...

The AgencyHabits Podcast ·

2026/02/03

Most agencies treat client work as a series of one-off transactions. But the most successful firms treat every engagement as an investment that compounds over time. In this episode, hosts Peter Kang and Sei Wook Kim introduce the concept of engagement yield: the tangible and intangible value that extends far beyond the invoice. They break down the four components of engagement yield; proof, leverage, relationships, and referrals. And explains how agencies can systematically capture this value. Peter

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23:25

Why Peter Wrote a Book on Holding Companies | EP24

The AgencyHabits Podcast ·

2026/01/26

In this special episode, host Sei-Wook Kim interviews Barrel Holdings co-founder Peter Kang about his new book, The HoldCo Guide: How Entrepreneurs Structure and Build a Holding Company That Lasts. Peter shares the organic journey that led him to write the book, from scaling a single agency to building a multi-agency holding company, and why no existing resource fully addressed the topic. He breaks down the core concepts every entrepreneur should understand: the spectrum between capital allocator

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33:02

Breaking Down Agency Employee Compensation | EP23

The AgencyHabits Podcast ·

2026/01/20

Compensation is more than just a number. It's a strategic tool for attracting, retaining, and motivating talent. In this episode, hosts Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim unpack the full spectrum of employee compensation in an agency setting. They start by acknowledging that while pay is crucial, it's not the only factor. Culture, management, challenging work, and company trajectory all play vital roles. From there, they dive into the core components: base salary (and how to set competitive,

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17:17

Annual Checkup: 9 Markers to Diagnose Your Agency's...

The AgencyHabits Podcast ·

2026/01/14

Most agencies only seek help when something is broken. But by then, the problems are often systemic. In this episode, hosts Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim shift the conversation from reactive fixes to proactive health. They introduce a holistic "annual checkup" framework, mapping nine critical agency functions to body parts and their vital signs: from positioning (vision) and client trust (heart rate) to revenue stability (blood pressure) and risk resilience (immune system). Drawing from their

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26:03

Evolving from Managing Projects to Growing Accounts |...

The AgencyHabits Podcast ·

2026/01/07

Growing from single-project engagements to managing multiple, concurrent work streams is a major turning point for any agency. In this episode, hosts Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim unpack the structural shift required to turn this complexity into a sustainable competitive advantage. Drawing from their own hard-earned lessons at Barrel, they dissect the common pitfalls like team silos, client misalignment, and leader burnout, that can derail multi-faceted accounts. Peter and Sei-Wook break down the

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35:25

The Six Levers of Profitable Client Engagements | EP20

The AgencyHabits Podcast ·

2025/12/30

Running an agency is an exercise in risk management. In this episode, hosts Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim break down the most significant threats that can jeopardize an agency's survival. They move beyond daily annoyances to focus on the high-impact risks that can truly put a business in danger. Using a simple risk matrix framework, Peter and Sei-Wook categorize and explore nine critical vulnerabilities, from founder burnout and partner conflict to client concentration and strategic misalignment. They

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21:23

Learning From Other Agency Owners | EP19

The AgencyHabits Podcast ·

2025/12/24

Great agencies are not built in isolation. In this episode, Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim explore the transformative power of community and peer learning for agency founders. The hosts share their personal journey from working in a silo to actively seeking mentorship and joining dedicated communities, revealing how these connections helped them avoid blind spots, gain crucial perspective, and accelerate their growth. Peter and Sei-Wook break down specific communities that have been instrumental to

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17:58

Why Agencies Rely on Referrals But Few Treat It as a...

The AgencyHabits Podcast ·

2025/12/17

Most agencies say they rely on referrals, but few treat them as a system. In this episode, Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim dismantle the "hope-based" approach to referrals and lay out a strategic framework for building a consistent pipeline. Drawing from the book The Referral Code, they redefine referrals as a transfer of goodwill and share actionable tactics for intentional referral generation. Peter and Sei-Wook cover how to identify the right people to ask, the critical importance of timing your ask

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29:25

How Agencies Should Think About and Manage Risk | EP 17

The AgencyHabits Podcast ·

2025/12/09

In this episode, hosts Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim break down the six fundamental levers that drive profitability across all client engagements, whether you run fixed-fee projects, retainers, or long-term service programs. Drawing from real challenges within their own portfolio at Barrel Holdings, Peter and Sei-Wook provide a practical framework for diagnosing and fixing margin compression. They start by defining gross margin and then explore each lever in detail: from pricing and scoping to

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30:45

Scaling Your Agency Beyond $2M | EP 16

The AgencyHabits Podcast ·

2025/12/03

In this episode, hosts Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim tackle a common agency pitfall: treating marketing as a short-term, reactive effort only when leads dry up. They argue for a fundamental mindset shift, framing marketing as a long-term investment in reputation and awareness, similar to the compounding benefits of consistent exercise. Peter and Sei-Wook first outline the "basics" of agency marketing: from social posts and case studies to newsletters and events, and then dive deep into six specific,

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19:15

How Agencies Can Be Better at Marketing Themselves |...

The AgencyHabits Podcast ·

2025/11/25

In this episode, hosts Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim tackle a common agency pitfall: treating marketing as a short-term, reactive effort only when leads dry up. They argue for a fundamental mindset shift, framing marketing as a long-term investment in reputation and awareness, similar to the compounding benefits of consistent exercise. Peter and Sei-Wook first outline the "basics" of agency marketing: from social posts and case studies to newsletters and events, and then dive deep into six specific,

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30:53

[REPLAY] Why & How to Prune Your Client Roster for...

The AgencyHabits Podcast ·

2025/11/11

Holding on to the wrong clients can stunt your agency's growth, drain your team's morale, and cripple your profitability. This statement holds value for agency owners who are overwhelmed by client demands, feel trapped by early, problematic clients, or are struggling to focus their service offerings for maximum impact. In this episode, Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim tackle the difficult but essential practice of proactively reviewing and pruning your client list. Drawing from Barrel's own journey of

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37 results

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