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You deserve an agency that gives you time freedom and profit and suits your lifestyle.
I specialize in helping digital service business and agency owners (think marketing, web development, etc) grow the business that enables their ideal lifestyle.
If you’re a solopreneur or working with a few contractors, but you’re having trouble scaling without losing your time and profit, you’re in the right place.
Since 2015, I’ve helped hundreds agencies add over $50M in collective revenue. Here are a few examples:
- Jake grew from $600k to $4M after I overhauled his sales process.
- Brandon took his agency from $1M to $5M.
- Three partners went from $2.5M to $8M.
- I’ve grown my own consultancies and agencies to $250k, $550k, and $433k in annual revenue respectively.
If you want growth you can count on, systems that free you up, and clients who stick around and pay what you’re worth, apply for a Strategic Roadmap Session today.
My proven process, used with them and my own agencies, starts with getting time back in your day, profit back in your business, and hiring the right initial team so you can work on more of what you love. We’ll also install better offers, positioning, lead generation, and sales processes.
Schedule your Strategy Session today.
“I reached out to John to bring a fresh perspective to the things we are doing at my digital marketing agency. After being in business for 20 years, I wanted a real expert that understands our industry and the agency business to review our marketing and sales with an objective eye.
His expertise and clear recommendations made a real difference in how we approach our own digital marketing and sales strategy. I truly appreciate his help and look forward to collaborating with him again in the near future.”
About Me
I’ve been where you are—running an agency that felt stuck at the same level. I tried to hire and lost all my freedom and profit (my agency almost went under multiple times). But I learned the lessons the hard way so you don’t have to.
My background is working for agencies (namely Distilled in New York City), in-house with Zillow, and building multiple agencies of my own, including selling one to private equity in 2022, and selling over $5m of services personally.
I know the grind of low profit, high overhead, working on stuff that I hated, juggling messy delivery, and feeling like my growth was capped.
More importantly, I also know how to fix it—because I screwed it up, learned, and have now done it for myself and alongside dozens of agency owners as their coach.
Outside of business, I’m a husband, dad of two, skier, hiker, and bourbon fan living in Colorado with my family.
I love people and helping good people build agencies that grow sanely, profitably, and predictably.
How I Work With Agency Owners
Option 1: 12-Week Agency Momentum Sprint
You’ve built a stable service business, as an in-demand solopreneur.
Leads come in and revenue’s steady, but you’re capped.
You’ve tried to hire, but it’s gone horribly. Growth has stalled, because you literally can’t take on more clients.
You’re not sure what lever to pull next.
That’s exactly why I built The Agency Momentum Sprint — a 12-week, hands-on cohort designed to help entrepreneurs like you build the one thing you’ve been missing:
👉 A predictable business that gives you the freedom you desire, the profit you need, and the chance to work on more of what you love and less of what you don’t
You’ll get:
- Live group coaching with me (John Doherty) — small cohort, high accountability. Did you know that people in groups get results 5.4x faster than 1:1 because they can leverage the wisdom of the crowds as well as the group leader?
- Implementation playbooks for every stage (time audits, hiring plans and job templates, interview questions, and more).
- Private Slack access for in-between support and real-time feedback.
- Early wins in 30 days (found profit alone should pay for the full program in this time), and a saner and happier company and entrepreneur (that’s you) within 12 weeks.
Intrigued?
Option 2: 1:1 Coaching
1:1 coaching is the right fit for agency owners who:
- Need 1:1 support, both on strategy/tactics and the mindset needed to get through hard agency times.
- Have a larger agency with intricate challenges and need someone to dig deep.
- Doing over $2m per year in revenue with a team.
I work with select private agency owner clients to help them solve their largest issues and unlock the agency growth and lifestyle freedom that you’ve always dreamed of.
Over our time together, we’ll rebuild the foundation and install the systems your agency needs to grow — simply, profitably, and predictably.
Phase 1: Time & Profit
You won’t be able to grow if you don’t have open time in your calendar and profit in your pocket. Most agencies struggling to grow have an underpaid owner with a packed calendar. We’ll fix this before diving into new strategies and tactics.
Phase 2: Offers, Positioning, & Packaging
Get crystal clear on what you sell, to whom, and why you’re the obvious choice — so you can raise prices and attract better clients.
Phase 3: Predictable Lead Flow
Build a reliable marketing engine that delivers qualified opportunities every week — without ads, endless content, or referral dependence.
Phase 4: Sales & Retention
Tighten your process so the right prospects close easily and profitably, without you feeling like a salesperson.
Bunty Somroy, Marketing/AI Consultant & Entrepreneur
“I came to John when I had some agency business challenges and needing some strategic insight and consulting. Especially with John’s background with agencies, I always know what he shares is from his experience right in the field. He holds space for the personal parts of my life that are also challenging to manage as part of business. I will definitely point others to John for the same support.”
My Background
Since 2010, I’ve worked for two agencies, ran marketing and growth for two of Zillow’s rentals brands (HotPads and Trulia Rentals), and consulted on SEO with some of the world’s largest brands like Vevo, The New York Times, Dribbble, Creative Market, Homelight, Hipcamp, and many more.
My first agency generated leads for marketing agencies. I worked with 300+ agencies over 7 years, and coached some of them to significant growth. And, I’ve applied the same principles to my own business, to great success.
I’m an entrepreneur at heart, and love helping agency owners grow their agency.
I am right for you if you…
– Are already generating $200k–$300k+ per year in revenue and ready to break through the plateau.
– Want consistent mid-five-figure months without working more hours.
– Are doing everything yourself and tired of it.
– Deliver strong results, but struggle with positioning and charging premium prices.
– Are coachable and takes action fast (not stuck in endless overthinking).
– Want a business that’s both profitable and sustainable, not just bigger.
My coaching is not for…
– Agencies or solopreneurs under $200k per year.
– People chasing a quick fix or “magic bullet” growth hack.
– Soloists who haven’t yet proven they can consistently generate leads, close new clients, and retain clients.
– Anyone unwilling to invest time, money, and energy into making real change.
How it works (how to get started)
Next, let’s have a Strategic Roadmap Session. It’s complimentary for qualified business owners doing $200k+/yr.
NOTE: This isn’t a generic “free call.” It’s a focused conversation where we’ll:
– Identify the bottleneck(s) that are capping your growth
– Map the exact steps to get from “steady but stuck” → consistent $50k–$70k months
– Decide if working together makes sense
Apply for your Strategic Roadmap Session below 👇