She Almost Shut Her Agency Down. Then Profit Hit an All-Time High (Laura Williams​​​​​​​)
 

Leverage for Growth Podcast — Laura Williams, Insync MediaIntroductionHello and welcome to Leverage [music] for Growth. Today we're going to talk about how personal transformation can drive your business to the next [music] level. I am joined by Laura Williams, founder of Insync Media. Laura, can you tell us a little bit about your agency? Well, first off, it is not named after the boy band, even though everyone asks me about that. And the idea behind Insync Media is that we come alongside as a partner to our clients. And the history of it was I started in sync design many many years ago about 15 years ago where I primarily did graphic design, copywriting. And as I grew in the industry and in my professional skills, I realized that what business owners really needed was true marketing like the full suite of things. And so I started growing, building my team, bringing on new people that could handle different aspects of the work. And before you know it, I had an SEO agency. and I didn't even mean to have that, but it was a combination of the types of people that I had hired and the skills they brought to the table and the kinds of needs that our clients had and what they were bringing to the table for us. So, we carried on like that for many years and we grew tremendously. We were doing over a 100k months and we were growing and we had some really good partnerships with other agencies and some white label work. And through that process, the one of my key people who I relied on for a vast majority of the work, the the relationship started to crumble and it was a very unfortunate situation. But over the course of about two years, I saw a strong friendship and sort of a business partnership, even though it wasn't a partnership on paper, go from being extremely strong, where we were absolutely killing it together. And we were closing deals and closing bigger and bigger deals and providing bigger and bigger results for clients to everything just falling apart on me. And in the space of about three months, I lost my two biggest clients and we had to part ways with this um gentleman who was working with me. And that was I don't know two years after COVID or so. And I think a lot of agencies experienced a big rush of business during the COVID era. And then as um money started to dry up, right? Like businesses started to um not have the PPP money anymore, like it just business became very very difficult. across the board and we work with small businesses and so everyone seemed to be struggling and I saw my business take a hit. We were really struggling and I was overstaffed for the amount of revenue I was bringing in and the my new kind of key person that was carrying the vast majority of the work that we were doing. uh that relationship was struggling as well and it was a very confusing time and um and yeah so that's how I started working with you and and we've just been working through this process ever since and and can you tell us where you are now? So you talked a little bit about kind of the the backstory and the context leading up to working together. Uh where are you at right now? I would say that well first of all we have a net profit which is amazing because we didn't have one for almost two years. we're just breaking even. That was one of my things I was very discouraged about. I'm like, why am I working this hard? I mean, I am taking a salary, so I guess I wasn't technically breaking even, but still, there wasn't a whole lot left at the end of each quarter. And I was like, why am I working so hard to just not have a lot of cash in the bank at the end of the day? So, over the last year, we made a lot of really good changes. And a lot of it had to do with the program that I've been going through with you. And the result is this year I finally have a net profit between and in fact it's higher than it's ever been. It's like 25%. Which is pretty good for agency world I think. At least it's good for me. So, we've been carrying a really strong profit margin and um I've made other changes where I've gotten more involved in the day-to-day work of the business, which isn't ideal long term certainly, but it's where I needed to be for the last 90 days or so to reestablish the work that we do and the results that we're getting. And by doing that work, I gained a lot more confidence back in myself and in my team and in our processes and what we're doing. Um, so now I'm, you know, I spent most of 2025 thinking maybe I just need to close this whole thing down. I I don't know if this is really going to work out for me. And and now middle of 2026, I finally see a viable path forward. And it's it's more encouraging now. I'm having fun again, which is like, why are we doing this if we're not having fun? That's [clears throat] an awesome transformation. And I kind of want to unpack that a little bit because um when we first started working together, there were some really foundational things that we had set in um in motion uh that had a lot more to do with um maybe how you view yourself and kind of what your your future is and what's called the three cells. Can you walk us through um not necessarily the details but just like how what that process was like and then how did that kind of transform intoThe Three Selves Frameworkuh the way that you view the team the way you view uh you know taking control of uh the business. So the idea of the three selves is you have your current self and then your future self and then the part that we usually forget about is the becoming self. It's the one that's doing the work in the moment to make our lives happen and get to the point where we want to be. I think the problem that I had is I didn't know what that future self was. I really lacked vision for that. And a lot of that had to do with just some I don't know some trauma things that happened earlier in my life that made me always feel like I was in survival mode where I could never actually dream about what the future could look like. I was just hanging on for dear life. Um and when I look back at most of my adult life, a lot of it has been hanging on for dear life. and without any true idea or thought or plans on how it could be better or different or how I could actually be the architect of what that future looks like. I didn't have any concept of that or any real idea of how that worked. I didn't have any practical experience with that. And so because of that, I was just kind of grinding my wheels, you know, stuck and stuck and stuck. I just could never make progress. Well, of course, I couldn't. I didn't know what progress looked like. So then when I started defining what that future self was, it became very inspiring but also very overwhelming. So okay, I have these big ideas and goals. Okay, but that feels a impossible and b I don't even know what that looks like to get there. So then that idea of the becoming self is taking the time to celebrate those little wins along the way and not getting so caught up in what the future goal is even though of course we're working towards that but taking the moment to celebrate the many goals along the way. So, and you encourage this on you, you encourage us on this quite a bit in the group settings where you encourage us this is a marathon and we have to like actually c like pace ourselves and celebrate the wins along the way. So, that's what I've been focusing on. I do have like my letter to my future self written and I review that regularly. It's very helpful. Um, but sometimes it still feels almost impossible. So, I just keep focusing on what are the wins I can celebrate along the way. And I've actually implemented that with my team as well. So every week we have a check-in every Friday and everyone's sharing wins, something that they accomplished that week. And then at the end of every quarter, we do a big team like mini celebration where we review all the good things that happened that quarter and the progress we made and then kind of reset for the ne upcoming quarter. That kind of pacing has really helped us to understand the progress and not get so caught up in things that feel hard or discouraging in the moment, but realize there's we we are making progress there. There are good things happening. It might not feel like it in the moment, but we are making progress. So before getting to a place where you could focus on progress, you didn't really know what progress was and it made it to where you kind of felt like you were in kind of like this hamster wheel of uh doing things but then not getting the results that you were looking for. And then once you started to make that uh change and start focusing on those small changes and and the gains, um what did that do to like your confidence in the business and kind of like the certainty of uh taking it in the direction that you wanted to take it as opposed to it being more based around default? Well, the confidence came when I started to see some results from the work that I had put in. For sure. Like for a while I was doing all the things that were encourage I was being encouraged to do but I wasn't really seeing any fruit from that any results and I understand the concept that you sew before you get your harvest and so I just kept kind of plugging away at that. Now that I'm starting to see some of the good results from that and getting the the reward of the work I put in even last year at this time, I'm starting to see the reward of it now. So it it helps me to have confidence that I I can actually do this. You know, it's these are things I can do. I can make progress. I can work towards my future. There is a future and I can craft this and I can archetype it for myself. And yes, there's always things that can, you know, derail you or things outside of your control. Certainly global pandemic among them, you know, things just completely outside of anyone's control. But we can work through those things and I can actually craft a future that I'm excited about. And now that I've seen results, it's I'm certainly not where that future letter self is [laughter] put me out to be, but I am making progress towards that. And that feels really good. Gives me a lot of confidence. It's really cool because in the conversation and even as you're answering the questions, you keep on going back from the old way was kind of like based around external and then the in way is more based around internal. So even in the way that you're describing it uh comes down to kind of internalizing this three cells and seeing how it kind of has this ripple effect uh among it. Can you talk about like uh there was a a really challenging um kind of buildup to a team member that wasn't necessarily meant for the business long term? Uh and uh I know that a big part of kind of like that big outcome of of certainty came from actually doing the hard thing of letting that person go and then making the switch. So, can you walk through a little bit about um before or like you don't have to go into the details of why, but just like what was it like leading up to it? What was it like uh afterwards? And I mentioned earlier I had sort of a business partner that helped me get this whole thing started and launched Insync Media as an SEO agency. After he left, then someone else came in and essentially filled his shoes. And I had really high hopes for that. And and I believe he did too. There was no ill intent on either side. As time went on and the business was struggling and not thriving like it did before. And I think that was discouraging to all of us. And over time, the relationship with this new person just started slowly but surely going downhill. And I have always struggled with that idea of hire, slow, fire, fast. Especially someone that's been with your company for five years that you almost have a secondhand language with them. You have a shortorthhand where they just know what you need and going to say and it's very it's actually very difficult to come to the conclusion that it's time that for that person to go. This wasn't a new hire. This was someone who' been with me years and years and it was it was a very difficult decision. But there were certainly many issues that could not be resolved despite ongoing efforts for me to resolve them in specific areas around accountability and processing and systems and documentation of work and attitude and just some very key things that are absolutely vital and it was very difficult to ha have help this person come along with the direction I was leading the team. So eventually we did get to a point where I had to let him go and it was it was very difficult. But I'll tell you what he said when I let him go and and honestly I just had to because we lost our major our biggest client. I actually couldn't afford his payroll anymore. It became a very black and white by the books decision. There is no feelings about it. There is no oh maybe I should maybe I should. It's like I actually cannot afford your payroll anymore. It's just this is done. This has to be done. And that's how it was framed and and that was certainly the case. So the he and it completely shocked him and he said I never imagined a universe in which I was not completely indispensable to InSync media. And when he said that I realized I have made the best and only decision I could make here because at this point in the game with this business I'm actually the only indispensable one. Unfortunately, [laughter] hopefully that'll change as things go on, but for right now, I'm I'm actually the only indispensable one. And I realized I'd outsourced so much of my business to other people that I could not have any confidence or authority or accountability for the work we were doing because I just wasn't involved in it. And I never forced myself to get involved at that level. So, we let this person go and then I took over all his work and I was terrified because I had never done all that level of work before and I was like, I don't know what I'm going to do. But I was able to hire an assistant right away and who had worked with us the year before. She came right in, filled in a gap immediately and I just stepped right into things and I took on the leadership position for all the work that was going on. And under my leadership, all of our accounts improved. All the results improved for all of our clients. Our clients are hap were happier. I saved multiple key accounts that were on the verge of leaving. And the team that was left was there was a unity behind that. And then about six weeks later, we brought on well, I had an opportunity to speak at an international show and we brought on four new clients directly after that. And that was after 15 months of drought. It was terrible. So I think the the lesson I learned is that well of course not everyone is meant for your business forever and that's actually okay. I wish I would have been ready to let him go a year before I did but I have to be okay with the way it all ended up. And when I took full responsibility for literally every aspect of everything that we did, it helped me to sell with confidence and to hold the rest of the team to higher standards of accountability. It helped me see where processes were absolutely broken and had to get fixed. And it it just it actually fixed everything. I don't even know how else to say it. Everything got fixed the second I was able to own that decision and move forward. And it's not this other guy's fault. Totally. Totally me. I had to take responsibility for that and just move forward with the business. And I did. You took something that felt like it was out of your control and you took it back into control. you did the hard thing of letting somebody go that was just not a good fit and not a good fit for uh your agency's current and future version. And one of the most beautiful things that I always get to see with these transformations is like the buildup to the event that basically is the catalyst for everything else. And I think on the personal side it was the the mindset and the three cells which kind of set up this whole like understanding that you can take control of your life. And then for the business it was based around letting go of that person because the moment that you started to uh step right in. Um you did an online event. That was your first uh first thing. You're like all right I'm going to do an online event and I'm going to have a partner with that and that was really cool. And then all of a sudden you're like I can do this. And then all of a sudden you're like, "All right, let's go into a speaking gig." And the buildup to the speaking gig and getting the plan of it. And then literally less than a month afterwards, you're like, "I got four clients. You won't see me for a while because now I got to focus on them." And it's just like freaking awesome. So I just wanted just like that's theOne Connection, Four New Clientstransformation that we're we're all about. Well, and and I have to give a shout out to your some of your methodologies as well because the whole speaking event that I had at the it was at the international builder show in February came about because a almost a year and a half before that when I first started working with you in what November 2024, you were encouraging us to do outreach on LinkedIn which I didn't want to do. I hated it. Hated every second of it. But I was like, okay, if I want new business, I have to like this is just what I have to do. So I started doing it. I made a key connection there with another person that in a sim like in marketing just a different way and for whatever reason he just kind of took a connection we had a connection together and then he was the one that invited me to be part of this panel at the international builder show. So, and it all came about because I joined the mastermind and just put in that work to actually do the LinkedIn outreach, be uncomfortable for a little bit, be rejected and told to f off multiple times by people, and just kept plugging away at it, and then before you know it, it started to bear fruit. If you run an agency, you know the grind. Every client a custom proposal, your positioning all over the place, and there's no clear way to scale. I built the scalable agency accelerator to fix this. It is a seven-step proven system that I've used with over 500 agencies to clarify their niche, sharpen their offer, and grow. Right now, you can get step one for 7 days. You'll define who you serve, lock in your positioning with no guesswork. Start your free trial today, and the link is in the show notes. there is kind of like this through line be between all of the story that you're talking about and I think that the through line is based around leaning into something that is uncomfortable that you know is going to work and just do it anyway. You feel the fear, you do it anyway. Um and it seems like that is the the through line of the story. Would you agree? Absolutely. Yes. these these methodologies and the the disciplines that we instill into our lives never bear fruit immediately. You know, I a few years ago I decided I needed to regain control of my health. It had gone downhill dramatically and I was in pretty bad shape. I was overweight. I was unhealthy. I was sick all the time. And so I did. And it took me a year and a half, but I lost 45 pounds and like completely turned around all my blood numbers and like feel better than I ever have. even though like I'm in my mid-40s now. I feel better than when I was in my mid-30s and it's but it took a while, you know, it took 18 months to get there and the same with the program going with you. Um, you know, it took 18 months to get started and go through the mindset work and then start working on some of the small disciplines and then get to a point where I can start seeing the results of that. And that just gives you confidence, right? It's like, okay, well, I still have this huge gap in revenue between where I am today and where my business really needs to be and where I want it to be. And I don't actually know how I'm going to get from there to there yet. It still feels a little murky to me on how that process works. But I know that there is a step-by-step process. I know there are disciplines that I can put in my life now that 18 months from now, everything will look completely different with the business again if I just put in the work and the discipline today. And I think that a lot of people when they focus on uh the definition of success being a revenue number, right? Uh I think that there's some uh kind of like myths around that they people should do that or like they need to hustle in order for them to hit a certain revenue amount. But we've said for the last 20 minutes or so is that you're actually feeling more confident or more fulfilled. It's like a business that you want to continue as opposed to letting go. And I I think that uh a part of that has to do with that internal work and being able to understand the the journey that you're on uh your own definition of success and then being able to align to that so that way you can make it through the marathon and can make it based around uh it something that's more sustainable. Absolutely. I mean, we're doing less than half on a monthly basis than we did at our peak back um just right before and during early COVID years. And it sometimes it hurts to look at that downhill graph. However, my profit margin is better and I don't have people that aren't right for me working for me anymore. So, I'm happier and the it's I'm doing work that feels more rewarding and that I feel very confident in now. So overall like the whole experience of having an a I mean an agency for most of us is a lifestyle business, right? Like most of us are in this to um achieve a certain level of lifestyle goals in our lives. Um provide for family in different ways. Um maybe build some legacy income. Uh have some just have some discretionary income. I have a spouse that brings in income. So it's, you know, a dual income situation. So it's not like my whole family isn't ride or die on this. this is a this is a lifestyle business and if it's not fun and I'm just stressed out all the time then honestly what's the point there I I I don't see a point and that's why I wanted to let it all go last year so stressed and unhappy and now it's like okay all right I can keep doing this is fun still and we're getting great results for our clients and it's fun with the team and we're having a good time so let's let's keep doing this one other thing that's very interesting is you talked about starting the the program about 18 months ago uh your your health at at that same time was um needing to be worked on. Uh and you started working on that and that was one of the the first things. And then you also started working on the the business and even when revenue if you're looking at that graph is going down but profits are increasing. And that's an interesting thing too because people sometimes will focus on a seven figureure agency but their expenses are basically the same amount, right? And then they get to a place where they're all stressed out about whatever is going on. And uh I think that when you define yourself based around uh fulfillment, profit, uh are you actually enjoying the thing? Are you surrounded by the people that you actually want to work with? Um both clients, right, that we haven't even talked about narrowing the focus on certain clients yet, but uh but then also based around team members. And I think that once you realize that the journey that you're on has more to do with just like enjoying the journey and like being in it for the marathon and like making sure that it's structured in a way that actually gives you energy and like uh fulfillment I think profit beats revenue all the time and fulfillment beats everything and it's really cool to see how the three selves the program impacts both health uh maybe even relationships, but also from fulfillment, from the business, from profits. Um, and not defining yourself based around what revenue amount you had before, but actually like how do you feel about where the business is going? I think that's a huge takeaway for a lot of people. Yes, it is. And and you're right, it does impact every part of your life.Key TakeawaysHealth, marriage, relationships with your kids, your general enjoyment and fulfillment in life. It's all connected. And if one piece of this is broken or not working or dysfunctional, it does impact all the other areas as well. I've been on a mission for about three years now to just improve all these areas. And the business was honestly was the last piece of the pie. It was like the health had to be worked on, my marriage had to be worked on, and then it's like, all right, now we're going to tackle the business and and we're we're making progress. And it it does feel really good to be on this side of things instead of where I was three or four years ago. Awesome. And just uh to to end on the high note uh and then we'll talk about key takeaways. In [clears throat] the last few months, you've uh done the hard thing, let go of the person that was not a good fit for the business, took on online uh events, then got into a speaking gig, then closed four clients in a month, and most importantly, your profit margins are there, and you're enjoying the business. So, um if someone's watching this right now, what are some of the key takeaways? you had said not everybody that's a part of your business is there for the long term. That was one of the things that you brought up. Um but what's like maybe one or two takeaways um that someone listening to this should take away from our conversation. Yes. So of course first being that not every person who started with you is good for you long term. And number two is just radical personal responsibility for every area of your life in your business. And I I didn't have a good grasp of that before despite being a very responsible person. I there was areas I was outsourcing my business to and my happiness to that I needed to take responsibility for. And then I think the third one is that this is a whole life endeavor. Your business is a reflection of where you're at emotionally and spiritually and mentally as well as your health and your relationships like your marriage. They're all connected. And when one area is suffering, there's probably a root cause that's causing all three of those areas to be hurting. And you have to work on that before anything gets better. If anybody's uh listening to this and they want to uh connect with you, uh what what's the best way for people to get in touch with you? You can reach out to me on LinkedIn. I try to stay pretty active on there. And I'll include uh the links to um Laura and Insync Media in the show notes. And Laura, just thank you so much for being on the Leverage for Growth podcast. Thank you so much, Jesse. You