How to Get Out of the 24/7 Grind and Scale Your Agency Smarter with RJ Huebert | Ep #820

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training

RJ Huebert went from corporate comfort to agency chaos—and nearly lost himself in the process. In this episode, he shares what it really takes to balance speed-to-lead sales with sanity, and how he’s redesigning his agency life for more freedom, better clients, and real personal wellbeing.

Guest Overview

RJ Huebert is the founder of HBT Digital, a Pittsburgh-based lead gen agency helping clients capture high-quality leads through digital ads that convert. Former corporate marketer turned agency founder, RJ knows both sides of the game—and why it’s harder than it looks.

What You’ll Learn

• Why corporate escapees struggle more than expected in agency life
• The underrated power of speed in lead gen (and what most teams screw up)
• How to nurture not-yet-ready leads without annoying them
• What happens when your business always comes before your health and family
• How RJ is reclaiming time and rebuilding systems

Key Takeaways

• Speed wins deals: If your sales team isn’t responding within minutes, you’re losing leads.
• Nurture with value: Use short, high-impact videos instead of stale PDFs.
• Even Meta is doing email wrong: Don’t copy the big guys—build trust instead.
• Agency life means 20 clients, not one boss: And that requires stronger boundaries.
• Health > Hustle: RJ’s learning that health, family, and freedom must come first.
• The solution? Systems: You can’t scale or shut your brain off without them.

Are you working harder than ever, but still can’t turn your brain off—even on weekends? Today’s featured guest is one of the many agency owners who has found it hard to find the right balance to take care of himself as well as the business. Like many agency owners, he made the leap from building someone else’s business to finally building his own. But trading a cozy corporate job for the chaos of running an agency with dozens of clients wasn’t as easy as it looked.

He shares the real challenges of sales, why speed is still the secret to winning leads, and how he’s figuring out how to convert prospects who aren’t quite ready to buy. Most importantly, he opens up about the ongoing struggle to find the right balance between health, family, and keeping the agency growing.

RJ Huebert is the founder of HBT Digital, a Pittsburgh-based lead generation agency helping clients pull in quality leads using online ads that actually convert. After 11 years of climbing the corporate marketing ladder, RJ got tired of building someone else’s dream and decided to bet on himself—and it’s paying off.

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

• Why he stopped building someone else’s dream.

• How speed wins in lead generation. Always be first to respond.

• Ways to nurture leads that are not ready to buy.

• Why boundaries and self care are more important now than ever.

Subscribe

Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio

Sponsors and Resources

E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/sma