Agencies: learn from the pros
Lesson 30 of 31 in the course “Million Dollar Sales Course”. Free, with animations and a quiz.
A $750-an-hour lesson
Last lesson we worked out our team’s numbers. But sometimes nobody on the team has the skill you need. Hormozi describes landing in exactly that spot in summer 2016. He had five gyms, was opening a sixth, and Facebook had just rolled out new ad tools, like retargeting, meaning showing ads to people who already visited you. He bought a couple of courses and got even more confused. Friends referred two agencies. An agency is a company you pay to run your ads, outreach or content. The first was more than he could afford. When he asked the second owner to show him in a few hours how he’d run the ads, the answer was: “My time’s not for sale.” Then a smirk: “Fine. $750 an hour.” Hormozi agreed, but on his own terms: one call a week, he himself works in the ad account while the agency guides him and explains why. Homework between calls. He paid for the first 4 hours upfront, $3,000.
8 calls: from passenger to driver
Hormozi showed up to every call like a good student: with notes and questions. He recorded every call and rewatched it later so he wouldn’t miss anything. For the first two calls, the agency owner was in the driver’s seat and Hormozi watched. On calls three and four, Hormozi took the wheel himself. By calls five and six, he says, it clicked: he understood how the owner made decisions and which numbers he tracked. By seven and eight he realized he didn’t need help anymore. The result: 8 hours and $6,000. Hormozi writes that this skill later made him millions. Why it worked: he wasn’t paying for someone to do it for him, he was paying to learn from a pro. The funny part is that he did it right the very first time. Then he worked with a dozen agencies “the normal way” and fell into a trap. Which one, we’ll see next.
The usual agency trap
Agencies promise: we’ve already hired and trained people, so we’ll do it faster, better and cheaper than you could. Hormozi bought it and worked with more than ten agencies the usual way. Almost every time, the same cycle played out. First, they get you excited with promises. Then comes a useful onboarding, and their best rep runs your account. Results show up. Then the best rep gets moved to a new client, and you get a junior. Results drop, you complain, the best rep pops in now and then to calm you down. In the end you cancel, look for a new agency, and it all repeats. Why: an agency has lots of clients, and you only get a slice of its attention. Every new client makes that slice smaller. Your own team, meanwhile, focuses only on you, so it keeps getting better over time.
When you need an agency
Hormozi’s first rule is simple: good agencies cost money. If you have no money, an agency is off the table. Learn yourself through trial and error: that’s how everyone starts. If you do have money, Hormozi suggests using an agency for two things. First: learning a new method, like a new kind of content, outreach or ads. Second: getting onto a new platform you don’t understand yet. Why: the agency already made the big mistakes on its own dime, and you skip straight to the part where you make money. If you learn everything yourself, you spend time and attention you could give to other things that grow your business. For Misha at the start, this means: while money is tight, he learns Shorts ads himself on small budgets. An agency makes sense once there’s money and he wants, say, to master a new platform.
The deal: learn, don’t depend
These days Hormozi starts every agency relationship with a purpose and a deadline. He tells them something like this: “I want to do what you do in my business, but I don’t know how. Let’s work together for 6 months so I can learn. I’ll pay extra for you to explain why you make the decisions you do. Once I get it, I’ll start training my team. And when they can handle it, we’ll switch to a cheaper consulting arrangement, so you can help if something goes wrong.” In his experience, most agencies don’t mind. If one does, no big deal, you move on to the next. But try to negotiate first: at some price it works for both sides. The upside of this deal: early results are better because the agency probably knows more than you. Then you keep the skill for life. And the whole time, you get their best people, not juniors.
Two agencies and a race with your team
When Hormozi wanted to learn YouTube, he hired two agencies at once. The first to keep him committed to filming regularly while it did some legwork on the platform itself. The second, at 4x the price, to teach the team deeply how to make the best content. Once their own videos beat the agency’s videos, they dropped to consulting only. Since then he repeats the pattern: one “good enough” agency to learn the basics of a new platform, and one elite agency to get the most out of it. Important: for a while you pay both the agency and your team for the same work. It’s expensive, but it lets you compare results until your team beats the agency. The first time, it took Hormozi about a year. Then 10 months, then 8, and now, he says, under 6. The better you get at it, the cheaper each new skill becomes.
10 signs of a good agency
Hormozi worked with plenty of bad agencies and a handful of good ones, and listed what the good ones had in common. One: a friend who got results recommends them. The best agencies live on referrals, not ads and cold outreach. Two: known companies got results with them. Three: a waiting list, because demand exceeds supply. Four: they set honest expectations when selling. Five: no quick hacks, talk of long-term strategy and clear timelines. Six: they say exactly what they need from you and when. Seven: they offer regular meetings and updates. Eight: updates are simple, and you can see what was spent and what came of it. Nine: a strong offer, like in lesson 3: dream outcome, likelihood, time and effort. Ten: they’re expensive. All good agencies are expensive, but not all expensive agencies are good. So talk to several and compare them against this list.
Do it yourself: your agency plan
Pick one skill that neither you nor your team has: a new method or a new platform. Be honest: is there money for a good agency? If not, learn it yourself with small tests and come back to this plan later. If yes, find at least three agencies through people you know and compare them against the 10 signs. Propose a Hormozi-style deal: 6 months of learning, extra pay for explanations, then consulting. Set yourself a deadline and record every call. Do the homework and pass the knowledge straight to your helper using the checklist method from lesson 28. Compare your team’s and the agency’s results every month. When the team is consistently better, switch to consulting and put the money into growth. If you’re under 18, sign any deal together with a parent. In the final lesson we’ll put it all together: a 14-day mini-launch.
Check yourself
- What does Hormozi advise here?
Correct answer: For now, learn it himself through trial and error. Hormozi says it plainly: good agencies cost money, and with no money an agency is off the table. Everyone starts this way, and that’s fine. - Which agency fits Hormozi’s list better?
Correct answer: B: a friend recommends it, there’s a waitlist, they talk timelines. B shows three signs from the list at once: a referral from someone with results, a waiting list, and long-term strategy talk with clear timelines. - How should Misha open the conversation?
Correct answer: “I want to learn from you for 6 months, I’ll pay extra for explanations, then we’ll switch to consulting”. That’s Hormozi’s template: a purpose and a deadline from day one. The agency gets paid fairly, and Misha gets the skill for life plus the agency’s best people throughout. - What should Misha do next?
Correct answer: Switch the agency to consulting and put the money into growth. That’s Hormozi’s advice: keep both until the team beats the agency, then switch to cheaper consulting and put the freed money into growth.
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