#94: How One Agency Unlocked Real Growth by Firing the Founder from Delivery
I talk to a lot of agency owners who are delivering results but still feel stuck. Growth is slow, clients churn, and the team is stretched too thin. For many, the journey from founder led hustle to a scalable, profitable operation feels like an uphill climb.
When I spoke with Anthony Morgan, founder and CEO of Enavi, I saw exactly how one agency overcame these obstacles. What started as an in house marketing role and a side hustle in WordPress development evolved into a human obsessed CRO agency working with eight and nine figure Shopify brands. Anthony’s approach offers a blueprint for agency scaling, client experience, and deliberate growth that I know every agency owner can learn from.
In this post, I’m breaking down the frameworks and lessons Anthony shared, so you can retain clients, deliver results, and scale beyond the $10M revenue mark.
1. Finding the Sweet Spot: Why $10M+ Clients Matter
One of the first things I noticed Anthony did right was focus on the right clients. Not all clients are equal, and the impact of your work scales with the client’s revenue. While seven figure brands can be profitable, it’s 10M+ Shopify brands that allow an agency to:
Generate meaningful ROI from CRO initiatives.
Have a broader “sandbox” for testing and experimentation.
Align marketing messaging to attract premium clients naturally.
Reduce friction in client onboarding and retention.
Anthony told me
“When we work with smaller stores, there’s lower traffic volume, less conversions—so lower ROI. But with 10M+ brands, the impact is massive, and the ROI can reach 5-7x.”
From what I’ve seen, targeting the right client segment isn’t just marketing, it’s choosing the playground where your expertise creates the largest impact.
2. Building a True Client Experience: Beyond Results
Anthony’s “human obsessed” approach didn’t just evolve from marketing, it was born from frustration with traditional agencies. Many clients experience inconsistent communication, junior account managers, and a lack of strategic insight. Enavi flipped the script by embedding client experience into every operational layer:
Client Success Managers oversee the experience, ensuring value is delivered consistently.
Feedback loops from clients shape both delivery and process.
Operations and procedures are designed so even junior team members can succeed and deliver meaningful results.
Anthony said
“Client experience directly impacts how well you deliver. It’s intertwined with operations and delivery. Over-investing here pays off in retention, long term relationships, and scalability.”
From my perspective, this proves that soft skills and structured client touchpoints are as crucial as technical execution.
3. The Growth Breakthrough: Prioritize What Moves the Needle
One of the most common agency pitfalls I see is founders over-indexed on delivery and under-indexed on growth. Anthony was no exception. Early in eNavi’s journey, only 10–20% of his time went toward marketing and demand generation, leaving growth stagnant.
The turning point came when he reallocated 80–90% of his time to growth, using a meticulous system to track activities:
Notion based Task Management: Every growth activity was categorized (LinkedIn, partnerships, co-marketing, sales outreach).
Gamification: Targets and visual progress kept momentum high.
Content Marketing & LinkedIn Posting: Thought leadership positioned eNavi as a CRO authority.
Strategic Partnerships: Agency and tech collaborations amplified demand capture through webinars and co-marketing campaigns.
Targeted Account Outreach: Focused efforts yielded high-value clients, including their largest to date.
Anthony shared with me
“If I didn’t make this switch, we’d continue growing slowly via referrals. Focusing on growth intentionally changed the trajectory of the agency.”
From my experience, growth requires deliberate allocation of founder time, systematic tracking, and consistent follow through.
4. Differentiation Through Human-Obsessed CRO
Positioning in a crowded CRO market is tricky. Many agencies equate CRO with A/B testing, missing the bigger picture: understanding the human behind every click. Anthony and his team shifted from “Customer First” to Human Obsessed CRO, creating a unique value proposition:
Every optimization starts with qualitative research: review mining, customer interviews, survey analysis.
CRO decisions are informed by human behavior, not just data points.
Client relationships are human-centered, building trust and long-term retention.
Anthony explained, “Behind every data point is a human we’re trying to influence. Understanding that human is core to our CRO process and client relationships.”
I’ve seen first hand that positioning like this is more than marketing, it’s a core agency value that drives culture, delivery, and client experience.
5. Step by Step Workflow: Allocating Founder Time for Maximum Growth
Anthony’s methodical approach to scaling growth can be turned into a repeatable workflow for any agency owner:
Audit Your Time: Track everything you do to understand where your energy goes.
Set Growth Priorities: Define the 20% of activities that generate 80% of results.
Delegate Delivery: Empower your team to handle client work reliably.
Systematize Tracking: Use tools like Notion to visualize progress.
Focus on High-Leverage Channels: LinkedIn content, strategic partnerships, webinars, and targeted accounts.
Measure & Iterate: Adjust tactics based on what drives leads, conversions, and client retention.
This framework turns founder effort into strategic, growth driven leadership.
6. Key Takeaways for Scaling Agencies
Target the right clients: $10M+ brands offer more measurable ROI and better alignment.
Invest in client experience: Retention and delivery quality hinge on soft skills and structured processes.
Focus founder time on growth: Intentional allocation of effort drives demand generation and authority.
Differentiate meaningfully: “Human Obsessed” CRO demonstrates both expertise and empathy.
Measure, systematize, iterate: Scaling requires repeatable, trackable workflows that evolve with your agency.
Conclusion: Scaling Beyond the Plateau
Anthony Morgan’s journey with eNavi shows that scaling an agency is as much about mindset and process as it is about skills and tactics. By targeting the right clients, obsessing over human experience, and systematically focusing on growth, agencies can break past stagnation, retain high-value clients, and establish authority in competitive markets.
From my perspective, whether you’re sub $1M or approaching $10M ARR, the lesson is clear: growth isn’t accidental, it’s engineered.
If you want to go deeper, you can run the full version at agencyuplift.co/mini.Even if you never book a call, the clarity alone is worth it.
