The Agency Ops Scaling Playbook: Everything I Learned Building Systems for 60+ 6-7 Figure Agencies.
After multiple years building operations for agencies, i switched to work exclusively with $1M+ agencies for full operations streamlining. but i’m sharing my complete early-stage playbook because the market has nothing about actual operations.
this is everything i wish i could have given every agency owner before their first hire + the 15 mistakes that kill 90% of agencies before $1,000,000/year.
Why bother listening to me:
i’m stan rezen. 6 years in analytics, became head of analytics at a yc-backed startup, then launched Visualytics and built operations for 60+ agencies doing $210k to $5.6m annually. then co-founded AntiFractional, where we help enterprise companies implement ai at the systematic level most consultants can't ever touch.
most agency owners think they’re just “growing their business.”
wrong.
you’re making one of the most critical strategic decisions without realizing it. every client you take, every hire you make, every system you build is pushing you down one of two completely different paths.
i’ve been inside dozens of agencies over the past few years. the ones that scale systematically understand this choice from day one. the ones that plateau at $50k/month? they just drifted into their business model accidentally.
when you started your agency, you probably took whatever clients you could get. made sense - you needed revenue. but each client decision was actually a strategic choice about your entire business model.
the problem: most agencies take both types without understanding the operational implications.
your business model determines everything:
agencies that try to do both volume and premium simultaneously? they’re the ones working 80-hour weeks with 30% margins, wondering why scaling feels impossible.