🧢 Make Agencies Defensible Again

Future-proofing digital agencies with AI automation plus the week's digital asset news

Author

Richard Patey
February 26, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes

Together with

Hey there 👋,

In this issue...

The majority of the inbound I’ve received over the last week for my AI automation offerings have been from marketing agencies. I think I may have scared them with this recent issue!

And I’ve had several calls with friends who own and run agencies who are looking to future proof.

Whilst I still think custom AI agents will run almost every aspect of sales and marketing for companies, replacing the need for the majority of agencies and SaaS products, that future is still several years away.

In the meantime, agencies that incorporate agentic workflows and offer these to their clients will crush those who do not.

Rather than having clients assign tasks inside a SPP WordPress Client Portal for a team of humans to deliver, the dashboard itself can become the interface that triggers AI agents to run the marketing services you provide.

As such, I’m now targeting agencies with my free AI automation call offer:

🤖 Agentic Workflows for Agencies

Struggling with tight margins, inefficiencies, or high client acquisition costs? AI-powered workflows can streamline service delivery, optimize campaigns, and scale client results—while reducing overhead.

I’m offering a free AI automation strategy call for agency owners who want to:

✅ Automate service delivery & free up their team
✅ Reduce payroll costs without sacrificing quality
✅ Increase ROI for both their agency and clients

Let’s transition agencies into AI-agent-driven service providers together.

In other news, it was great to be featured in The death of content website investing: How AI and Google wiped out an industry by Stefan von Imhof from alts.co, the best and biggest alternative asset investment community.

Stefan, like myself, both used to work for Flippa, and we have four more Flippa listings this week. But before that let’s take a look at the week’s news (and main sponsor).

📰 Top 5 News Stories

📰 The iconic global media brand TIME moves to beehiiv - Link

🤖 Claude 3.7 Sonnet's amazing one-shot code generation & animations - Link

📉 Total crypto market cap drops 7% L7D, Solana down 19% to $135 - Link

🚀 Bullish on 1 person teams - Carrd $2M ARR, Chatbase $3M ARR - Link

💰 AI agents to create more wealth than SaaS - Link

🌍 Managing Remote Teams? Do It Smarter with Cloudica

Keeping remote teams productive and accountable—without micromanagement—can be a challenge. Cloudica is a powerful remote employee monitoring tool designed to enhance efficiency, not just track hours.

Why Cloudica?

✅ Designed for remote teams – Trusted by businesses to streamline workflows.
✅ Real-time insights, zero intrusion – Monitor productivity while maintaining trust.
✅ Efficiency, not surveillance – Actionable data to optimize team performance.
✅ Automated timesheets & attendance – Simplify tracking, reporting, and compliance.

Whether you’re managing a small team or a global workforce, Cloudica helps you stay on top of productivity—without the guesswork.

Try it free for 15 days—no credit card needed.

🔓 Top 4 Flippa Deals Unlocked 

In partnership with Flippa

Below are my thoughts on four listings which Flippa selected, some of which were Confidential and/or First Access which I unlocked using my Flippa Premium membership. You can get 3 months of access for free using this link and bypass NDA approval.

🛍️ Marketplace: Australian education marketplace on Shopify, launched in 1994, specializing in health & wellness. Subscription-based model with 100+ proprietary courses, 70% completion rate, and high margins (70%+). DR20s domain bringing in over 1500/m search traffic. Global audience, mainly Asia-Pacific. Growth potential in alumni services, product sales, and marketplace expansion. Making over AUD $40K/m, with a USD $717K USD listing price- Listing URL

🛒 Ecommerce: Online skincare business on Shopify in Health & Beauty, launched in 2014. Generates $520K annual revenue with a 46% profit margin. DR20s domain but ranking top for some low volume keywords, plus loyal customer base. Positioned within the growing skincare market with opportunities for expansion. Making $23K/m profit, $900K listing price- Listing URL

📱 App: Android-based invoicing app for SMEs, freelancers, and solopreneurs. Subscription-based model with tiered pricing. Integrated with PayPal and cloud-based tech ensures real-time financial tracking. Distributed via Google Play Store, leveraging in-app marketing. Steady growth since 2020 with a recurring revenue model. Making HKD $57K/m, USD $398K asking price - Listing URL

🖥️ Service: IT consulting firm, operating since 1996, with offices in Bolivia, Peru, Paraguay, and Chile. Specializes in cybersecurity, data center management, and telecom. DR30s domain but almost no search traffic and, of course, the website is in Spanish. Serves 300-400 clients across finance, retail, and government. Strong tech partnerships, 75 employees. Making over $500K/m profit, $18.5M listing price - Listing URL

🛠️ Top 3 Tools & Solutions

🔧 STRESS-FREE WEBSITE MANAGEMENT - Innovacious handles website management, design, SEO and social media with expert precision. No contracts, no hassle—pause anytime. Use code DAI for 20% off forever. Get started today!

🐝 THE NEWSLETTER PLATFORM BUILT FOR GROWTH - Created by the early Morning Brew team and now powering the world's top newsletters, I’ve been an early user (and investor). Get 20% OFF for 3 months as a Digital Asset Investor Reader!

🤖 LEVERAGE AI AGENTS FOR BUSINESS & CRYPTO – Automate tasks, optimize marketing, and enhance crypto trading with AI. Get lifetime access to my product on Whop and my private Discord community for just $97. Join now!

As we learned in business school, the Rule of Seven states that a prospect needs to interact with a brand at least seven times before they’re likely to take action or make a purchase. In reality, it could be as many as 23 times as Neil Patel states.

I provide influencer marketing and sponsorship opportunities for trusted products, allowing them to leverage my brand and reach my audience of 10K entrepreneurs and investors. Sponsorship packages start at $1,250:

I sell visibility, not clicks - if you are looking for lead gen, Facebook and Google would be a better fit.

Top Investors Are Buying This “Unlisted” Stock

When the team that grew Zillow to a $16B valuation starts a new company, investors notice. No wonder top firms like SoftBank invested in Pacaso.

Taking the industry by storm all over again, Pacaso’s platform offers co-ownership of premier properties – completely revamping a $1.3T market.

And by handing keys to 1,500+ happy homeowners, Pacaso has made $100M+ in gross profits.

Now, with aggressive global expansion underway, their current share price won’t last long.

That’s it for this week, until next time, buy my product and catch me in the community!

Cheers!

Richard (@richardpatey)

Disclaimer: Nothing in this email is financial advice and I am not a professional investment adviser. I send weekly updates on digital asset news and what I'm doing personally - consider it informational and for entertainment purposes only. There are native ad sponsorships from the beehiiv ad network (such as Pacaso in today’s issue) and ones I source independently via Passionfroot (such as Cloudica & Innovacious in today’s issue). Plus I often add affiliate links to software I use and website marketplace listings such as Flippa who also pay me to feature listings.

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