Real timelines of scaling an agency

Quick Personal Story.

I’ll be concise.

Been doing this for over 2 years now.

This is my night and day. It’s all I think about.

I was shocked to see how much I made, and the amount I spent in the last financial year (more than what I made lol).

The amounts of bad times I had to go through.

No process working. Most clients not sticking for long. Paying big refunds without agreements. Not having consistent sales. Big potential deals ghosting right after committing.

I’ve lived through it all.

All of it.

And now, after I just crossed 5 years in the online world, and nearing 2 years of building my agency. I’m seeing the outsized returns.

More referral and inbound clients than outbound.

Deals coming in out of nowhere.

Insanely massive prospects reaching out to me.

And so much more.

One big turning point recently, as I came back from Bali.

It got to a point, where recently one of my biggest clients could not continue as he raised funds and wanted to focus there.

Still great friends with him, I’ll stay at his place in Texas whenever I’m there.

I let it all go.

I let it all be in the hands of God.

I wear a Bhagwan Hanuman Ji necklace all the time.

And once this client churned, I wrote in my journal.

“God doesn’t want me to move in this direction. It’s a direct call for me to do something different. And I did”.

Systems. New projects. Risks paying off. It has all started to unfold now.

Now living every day with no schedule, sheer focus and only building momentum, nothing else.

Read this on an IG meme, “When the comeback is so good, you start thanking God.”

That’s me.

And I want to open up honestly about this game. For all of you.

You’ve been sold a lie.

That starting a service business, be it freelancing or agency, is your golden ticket to printing cash.

That you’ll sign a few clients, outsource delivery, build a team in your DMs, and hit $30k/month in six months.

Simple right?

Let me save you years of noise:

If you think you’ll scale an agency fast, you’re delusional.

And that’s not an insult.

It’s a reality check from someone who’s been building for over 2 years — and only now seeing the kind of traction people think happens in month 3.

This is what nobody tells you:

1. You Will Be Stuck — For Months

Not days. Not weeks. Months.

Be prepared to virtually see no progress for 6 months to 1 year.

Stuck at one client. Then three. Then five. Then back to two. Then no sales calls for 40 days straight.

You’ll sit across your Notion dashboard with your grand plan and wonder:

Why does this feel like I’m going backward?

That’s the business. That’s the game.

Agencies don’t scale like SaaS. They don’t scale like crypto projects or info products. You scale linearly. One client. One process. One mistake at a time.

And most quit before they hit their breakthrough. Not because they weren’t good — but because they thought it’d be faster.

Understand that you’ll make stupid decisions, that looked great initially. And you have to role with it.

The game is systems in the long term, and ugly messy action that gets the job done in the short term.

Eventually you build for capacity.

Our agency cannot handle more than 2 new projects at this moment. From not having leads, now I’m delaying new client onboarding processes.

2. Finding Your Edge Takes Time

In the beginning, you’re guessing.

• Guessing your niche.

• Guessing your offer.

• Guessing your process.

• Guessing what will actually get results.

You’re not unique, you’re just desperate.

To make things make sense.

This will be you at one point:

“That grand plan looked so good on paper, it was supposed to go as planned. Why isn’t it working?”

And the only way to find your edge is through execution, not endless positioning frameworks.

It took me months to realize what my agency was actually good at.

What we could build that no one else could replicate. That’s when retention started. That’s when referrals came in. That’s when inbound started flowing.

Your edge is not a tagline. It’s your track record.

Most of the times it’s the people. My team does work so exceptionally well now, I am rarely involved in the process.

Often times they’ll create systems by themselves, take client calls, manage all the projects and I’ll have no idea about any intricacies.

And I don’t interfere in 95% of current client execution.

3. The Churn Will Punch You in the Face

You’ll do great work. Still lose clients.

You’ll get blamed. You’ll get discredited.

You’ll get delayed payments. Sometimes nothing. Even after you worked for it.

You’ll fix delivery. Still lose team members.

You’ll automate 80% of your service. Still get messages like “we’re going another direction.”

And it will feel personal. But it isn’t.

This is the part they don’t talk about. How it feels to wake up and realize you’ve done everything right, and it still fell apart.

You’ll sometimes feel invincible and it’ll all come crashing down.

4. You’ll Play on Razor-Thin Margins

People see agency cashflow and forget:

• You’re paying talent.

• You’re reinvesting into operations.

• You’re funding experimentation.

You’ll have months where you intentionally lose money to build a better product.

To serve better. To build something that actually lasts.

If you want 80% profit margin and no churn, go sell a course.

If you want to build something that gets better over time, something that you’re proud of, be prepared to bleed for it.

You’ll lose so much money you’ll question yourself, and people around you will be shocked to see the numbers.

And list in the last point, you have to take all that emotional burden, and move to the next day to do all the basics again. And the day after, and every single day from there.

5. You Are the Shock Absorber for Everything

Every mistake, every delay, every refund, every bad feedback, every rejection, you absorb it.

You shield your team. You reassure your clients. You carry the tension.

You chose this game. You chose to be at the hardest position.

You’ll get tested, specially your patience.

If you can’t survive this, you’re not meant for the game.

And if you’re not emotionally grounded, this pressure will eat you.

That’s why the real skill isn’t sales. It’s emotional self-regulation.

Your work is uncertain, your team members will get their salary, you’ll make profit or not, that’s on you.

Build such thick skin, you’re not bothered by anything.

6. The Systems Make or Break You

The reason your agency isn’t growing isn’t because your offer sucks.

It’s because:

• Your lead pipeline is inconsistent.

  • You’re not doing things everyday to put your work in front of more people.

• Your delivery is founder-reliant.

  • I had to remove myself from the process, and it took me almost 2 years.

• You don’t have SOPs.

  • Your team wanders like headless chickens everywhere.

• Your team doesn’t know what “done well” means.

  • If just getting the bare minimum work is a job well done, you need to confront yourself, then teach the team.

• Your team isn’t held responsible and accountable.

  • If you constantly worry whether your team can do good work or not, just go back to being a freelancer. Or start trusting people.

Once you fix the foundation, things start compounding. But most want to scale chaos. They want volume without clarity.

Your systems are what buy you peace and scale.

7. It’s Low Barrier. But It’s a Long Game.

Yes, anyone can start.

Yes, it’s cashflow positive.

Yes, you can get to $5K/month faster than most other businesses.

But scaling?

That’s not fast. That’s not viral.

It’s deliberate. Strategic. Patient. Linear.

You’ll stay stuck at one mark for a year. Then maybe lose all clients, or grow some. Anything can happen.

It’s the uncertain part of the game.

It’s a people’s game. Most people want to get away from the interactions.

This game demands it.

And that’s why most don’t make it. Because they expect startup returns in an agency game.

Fix your expectations.

8. Here’s What Actually Works

If I had to do it again from Day 1?

• Overcommunicate with clients. Set expectations like a pro. Communicate all details. Make sure they are taken care of. They should not be figuring out anything, they paid you for it.

• Hire late. Fire fast. You’ll thank yourself later. Read “No Rules Rules by Reed Hastings”

• Track everything. If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it. Monthly work reports. For clients and for the team. Track all the numbers involved.

• Keep your offer stupid simple. Complexity is the enemy of consistency. If your prospects have to run a mental treadmill going through your offer, it isn’t good enough.

• Put trust in good people. Let good people take control. Incentivize them. The more money you make for other people, the more you make for yourself.

And most of all:

Most people don’t survive for more than 18 months in this game. You sure you got the grit to last this long?

Ps. You won’t even know how quickly these 18 months go by, when you’re obsessed with the process.

Build for 5 years. Not quick cash in 3 months. Like the guru told you.

9. Why This Is Still the Best Business to Start

After all that, here’s why I’d still recommend the agency model:

• It teaches you how to sell.

• It teaches you how to manage.

• It teaches you how to deliver.

• It forces you to build operations.

• It’s the fastest way to build cashflow while learning to build character.

But don’t come in expecting shortcuts. Come in ready to build and take every punch with your chest out.

Because the only ones who win in this game?

Are the ones who outlive the phases of pretending, excuses, and almost giving up.

If you’re early in this journey save this. You’ll need it.

If you’re in the middle of it share this. Someone else is drowning quietly.

And if you’re 18 months in, tired, confused, stuck?

Good.

That means you’re right on schedule.

Also subtle announcement, Moksh Vasant is now a co-founder and partner inside my company Metro Media House for a new wing. (More to follow, I haven’t mentioned this anywhere, let’s see how many of you read till here. If you did, reply to this email with your instant reactions)

More on this soon.

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