Hands-Off CEO

Two and a half years tend to be the sweet spot where consulting agencies come knocking on Hands-Off CEO’s door. Usually, those two and a half years are the point when CEOs can feel like they are stuck in a never-ending cycle of hard work and stress that is preventing their growth.

But there's a better way to scale your company while avoiding those stagnant periods and growth plateaus.

Don't fall into the trap of gett...

When managing a consulting agency, there's always a constant feeling that our current methods for measuring profitability just aren't giving us the whole story.

Marcel Petitpas, CEO and Co-Founder of Parakeeto, experienced this very issue while running his own agency. Luckily, he didn't just sit back and accept the status quo. Instead, he set out to find a better way. 

Get ready to discover what he did to streamline ...

Have you ever thought about looking at agencies from a new perspective? Get ready to discover the concept of the "Alt Agencies" - where specialization and specific outcomes for niche clients are favored over the traditional agency model. Our Guest Greg Hickman shares his journey on how to deliver a repeatable sales and onboarding process. 

The conversation touched insightful topics like: 

• Power of productizing se...

Did you ever think about the importance of effective account management on scaling your business? If not, prepare for these gems! In this episode Taylor McMaster, founder of Dot and Company, tells her story and how she helps digital marketing agencies with achieving full-service client account management.

Here are the essential insights from our riveting conversation with Taylor- feel free to have a powerful read throug...

Are you ready to take your marketing strategy to new heights? We have a treat for you! Our latest podcast episode features the  marketing expert, author, and speaker John Jantsch, owner of Duct Tape Marketing. Get ready to fuel your success with these game-changing insights!

In today's fast-paced world, time is everything, and we understand that. That's why we've condensed the best highlights from our conversation with ...

As entrepreneurs, we often feel the pressure to sacrifice our personal lives to achieve business success. But is it possible to have both? In this episode, a CEO who was able to maintain a work-life balance is taking me through his iterative process of reaching that sweet spot. We will be discussing the keys to maintaining work-life balance while scaling your business, including tips on setting boundaries, prioritizing sel...

What do you do when your business hits a ceiling and struggles to scale? In this episode of Hands-Off CEO, Jeff Ennis tells me how he transformed his company's operations, revamped his mindset, and added more value to his clients. From expanding their services, hiring the right team, standardizing their processes, to automating their systems, Jeff shares how he has doubled profits and reduced the number of jobs in his busi...

This is part 2 of a 2-part series on the Hands-Off CEO podcast, where you'll hear host Mandi Ellefson being interviewed by Ross Mayfield, a copywriter and marketing strategist on her team. In this episode, Mandi and Ross share some of the more vulnerable stories and experiences they haven't shared on the podcast before. They dispel the myth of the "seven-figure lifestyle business" and discuss the truth about what it really...

This is the first episode of a 2-part series on the Hands-Off CEO podcast, where you'll hear host Mandi Ellefson being interviewed by Ross Mayfield, a copywriter and marketing strategist on her team. The conversation takes a deep dive into the mission behind Hands-Off CEO, and you'll hear stories of clients who have experienced real transformations in their business through challenging circumstances. You'll also learn abou...

In this week’s episode of Hands-Off CEO, Sharon Toerek discusses how to streamline legal decision-making in your business. She joins host Mandi Ellefson to share insights on setting up systems for making informed legal choices and delve into the importance of master service agreements and key components of a legal service agreement. You will also learn practical tips specifically for agencies and gain a deeper understandin...

Success for clients goes beyond achieving great results. There are several pillars that make up client success, with onboarding being just one of them. Megan Huber of Structured Freedom joins Hands-Off CEO to share her unique perspective on onboarding and how it plays a role in scaling a service-based business.

Megan Huber is a scalability expert for coaches and expert-based businesses, specifically those that are teach...

One of the keys to becoming a hands-off CEO is having a powerful team you can trust to run your business while you focus on growth. In this solo episode, I share the five barriers to building and running these powerful teams, and what you can do to overcome them.

Key Ideas:

1. One of the barriers to building a multiple million dollar company that can run without you is the freelancer mindset that many CEOs have. Many o...

Growth as a CEO often looks like more stress, more responsibility, too much work, and not enough profit. Even if making good money, many businesses are slowed by how little profits they retain. Real profitability is what a CEO would actually make if they were paid at market rate instead of their own salary. But how do you measure that? Mandi Ellefson shares how to calculate your business’ real profits in this solo episode ...

How do you determine if the direction your company is taking is the right one? Mandi Ellefson discusses an effective formula for devising the right scalability plan, and shares a step-by-step guide.

Key Ideas:

1. If you haven’t established clarity in your vision, it’s easy for your business to end up taking detours. You may eventually reach the right path, but not without wasted time, energy, and resources. Creating a ...

There is a big misconception around operations, sales, and marketing and how they all intersect. Mandi Ellefson debunks some of these misconceptions and discusses how operations and sales impact scalability in a consulting agency.

Key Ideas:

1. Most approaches to scaling a consulting agency are actually more applicable to scaling a general company - they don’t account for the nuances of a consulting agency. 
2. Many opera...

Delegating ownership frees up time for CEOs so they can focus on the business. Mandi Ellefson talks about the right way to let go of your business and hand the reins over to capable leaders, and how this helps you actually work on growing the business.

Key Ideas:

1. The challenge with delegating ownership is that if you don't scale the right way, you'll find that your client results start to decline, Mandi shares. Ofte...

What defining moments or milestones have happened to you along the way towards your current level of success? Mandi Ellefson shares her story as she discusses milestones that people typically experience in their business journey, and how to identify and address common challenges.

Key Ideas:

1. Very few business women ever reach 7 figures in their company. 
2. “Whenever there's a certain goal that we are shooting for, the ...

How can you succeed while doing less? Focusing on the present may allow you to create more value. Mandi Ellefson describes her Wim Hoff ice bath meditation experience as she shares tips on overcoming fear. 

Key Ideas:

1. Taking deep breaths to center yourself grounds you in the present and helps you see past your fear. Mandi describes how she was able to shift from fight-or-flight to a place of calm. “I went from suffe...

This week we have a replay of one of Hands Off CEO's most popular episodes.

Mandi Ellefson is discussing why popular scaling advice is terrible for consulting agencies. She shares insights about marketing, systems, and what you should actually do to scale.

You’ll hear Mandi talk about:

1. “Do you really want to systematize and accelerate a process that's just getting okay and mediocre results?” Mandi shares a story ...