How Braden Scaled His YouTube Content Agency From $1K to $11K/mo

In the early stages of joining Client Ascension, what were some things you worked on to kind of set things in motion to get into this next level of scale that brought you past the 10k mark?

So, like, for me, I mean, relative, like, Client Ascension stuff, it was just going to all the calls. Like, I just went to, like, as many calls as I could and slowly learned, like, which ones, like, were most helpful for me, like, what I really needed.

What's going on, guys? Andre Hakel Jr. Here from client Ascension. Back with another Student Spotlight interview. I'm here with Braden Retrini from Client Ascension. How are we doing, brother?

Yo, what's going on, Andre?

Chilling, man, chilling. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to share a little bit about your experience and feedback about the Client Ascension program. I know off camera, we talked a little bit about your growth journey from starting back in May at one point, $3,000 mrr to now being over $11,000 mrr. Tell us a little bit about your journey. How do you even get into Client Ascension? And where were you at, like, that one, 3K? Like, tell us, what was that like?

I mean, like, actually, the way I got into the Client Ascension funnel was pretty funny. I was just, like, posting, like, editing stuff on Instagram, and I did, like, something that was, like, reviewing Eddie Cumberbatch's, like, editing style, and, you know, like, Eamon, like, he was, like, working with them, and he, like, commented on it like, oh, you know, this is my client. And I started looking at Eamon's stuff, and he was, like, crushing it. And then I was just wondering, like, who he was learning from and stuff like that. And that's how I stumbled across ca.

Wow.

Then I made my way into the funnel, watched, like, a Fazio interview or, like, just, like, him yelling at the camera or something, and I was like, all right, I got it. I gotta buy. I gotta hop in. And then that's how I made it into cn.

What is it about Daniel's messaging that, like, spoke to you? Because I hear this all the time. It's like Daniel basically yelled at me through the screen, and I signed up. And it's like some people might have an opposite reaction where they're like, whoa, like, calm down, or what is this? But a lot of guys, really, ever inclined Ascension.

Yeah.

One way or another, stumble across Daniel's content, and it resonated. So aside from, like, the yelling and the aggressive tone, what about Daniel's messaging resonated with you at the time?

I think it was the way that he still does is, like, super well. Like, he just makes everything super simple and, like, easy for me to understand. And even though I wasn't, like, you know, the brightest, I'm still not the brightest. Like, I was really able to understand, like, more complex topics, and I was just like, yeah, like, these are the guys, like, I should be from.

At least he does make business so simple. And, like, even at that event in Tampa we had last weekend, I know you were there, and Daniel did a talk on ads. And to me, like, ads are pretty complex. I'm not very involved with ads. Like, I don't do anything with it. But just from my understanding of, like, the ads platforms and the targeting and the messaging and the different creatives and, like, the tracking and the funnel, to me, it's very complicated. But then Daniel gets up there and he goes through, like, our ad strategy and what we've been doing to grow our businesses, and it. It just sounds so simple. And I'm like, I walk away from that presentation myself being like, oh, I could do this.

Yeah. I was like, you're saying. I was like, yeah, I can't wait till I run ads, bro. It's just like, so.

That's awesome, man. That's. That's real cool. And the fact that you found us through Eamon, who's one of our most successful students ever. I actually, I think I have two case study interviews with Eamon because he joined the program at zero. Like, he was literally at zero. Signed a client through Internet money and then invested that into client attention and then grew to over a hundred thousand dollars a month. He's crushing it. But that's cool that he also, just by sharing his story, put a lot of you guys on. So in the early stages of joining Client Ascension, what were some things you worked on to kind of set things in motion to get into this next level of scale that brought you past the 10k mark.

So, like, for me, I mean, relative, like, Client Ascension stuff, it was just going to all the calls. Like, I just went to, like, as many calls as I could and slowly learned, like, which ones, like, were most helpful for me, like, what I really needed. But, like, honestly, I just needed work, like, all around. Like, sending outreach, styling, like, my operations, sales, literally everything. And that's where I think, like, CA was really helpful with, because it's basically just, like, kind of. It's so broad, which is nice for me because I was, like, such a beginner. I didn't know where to even start. So just, like, attending all those calls, asking questions When I could. And then just kind of like finding which calls, like, actually help me get to that next level was like, the most important.

For sure. Yeah. And just for the audience, people not inclined, Ascension, like, what are some of those calls? Because obviously I'm one of the founders here. I know how the program's designed. We make it so that there's at least two coaching calls every single day on various topics that agency owners need to sharpen the ax for in order to scale. And so what are some of those coaching calls that had a big impact on you early on?

I mean, there's definitely too many for me to even name, but I guess, like, David's sales coaching call, I go to a lot. Dylan Rich's call. Cause I do like, a lot of, like, DMs and stuff. Like, it's helped me out a lot. Like just having like that daily accountability is like, really helpful for me. Mario's calls, they're just. There's so many in there.

Yeah, yeah. And then we got like, Daniel for offers, Nick Verge for vsl. It's like, it's cool because in the agency game, it's like you focus on one thing at a time and maybe sometimes you focus on a bunch of things, but like, yeah, like, I'll reference, like, Nick Verge, vsl. And it's like, dude, that content and kajabi that we have on VSLs with like, creative brief and Nick style of doing VSLs is like, best in the game. And most people forget about it because it's like they did it so long ago. But yeah, there's just so much to consume because there's a lot of areas you have to cover as an agency owner. There's marketing, there's sales, there's fulfillment. And it's also just establishing the offer to begin with, which a lot of guys that come into the program, they don't have, like a finalized offer yet, which is something we help with. So it is like, broad in the sense of, like, it helps with every area of scaling an agency. But you can go in depth on any of those areas, like, you're talking about with sales, working with David, doing call reviews, getting your sales scripts reviewed, doing mock calls, and even carrying these conversations into the SSC team channels, which are the student success coaches you get assigned to. What's that been like? Just for the audience, they might not be totally familiar with, like, the SSC processes and what that's all about.

So, I mean, for me, I found that to be like, one of the most beneficial things I don't know if it's the same for other people with like SSCs. Just like Shannon literally, you know, just holds me accountable. He's like basically your personalized like coach almost. And he's kind of just like, you know, we have our BHAs like every month. So he knows a lot about my business and like, knows like the areas that I'm struggling with, the areas that I'm doing well on. So even if I'm just hopping on like office hours, we can just like chop it up if I have like easy questions and he can give me more like personalized feedback on like what to actually implement or like what's best for my business like right now. So I think that's been like, really helpful as well.

Yeah, just having someone like Shen too. Funny enough about Shen is he was like the first or second student that ever joined Client Essential along with David, who's now the sales coach like three or four years ago at this point. And so they know the program in and out. They've been there as long as any of the founders have been there. And it's cool now to see him work with all these new students coming into the program and helping them navigate like, hey, there's a lot to do as a new agency owner. Here's what you should prioritize and do now instead of getting distracted. So anyways, there's so much to talk about when it comes to just client ascension in general. And we can go a ton of different ways. But one of the areas that I wanted to focus on, at least for this interview, since it's so fresh, is the event. So one of, one of the best parts or aspects of client ascension is the community. So yeah, we teach, yeah, we have coaching calls, yeah, we have great content and can help you in Slack with your sses. But the community is everything, man. Like just bringing students together. Like, I'm sure you've already met Eamon and some of the other guys that you saw before joining the program, but what was it like to be on in person event seeing guys that you see on Slack or on Zoom calls every day? It was cool.

It was just cool to be around like people who are like minded individuals. Other people at the same stage that I'm at, they're kind of like, you know, 10k a month mark. And then there's the people who I'm talking with who are making like, you know, a couple hundred grand per month. Like even just having like little conversations with them was like just cool and like eye opening to like see how they think about stuff and how they kind of like, operate. And then also to just talk with some dudes who are like, doing the same stuff that I'm doing. Like, that was cool. Because it's not very common to run an agency at 23 years old. Like, none of my boys in my hometown are really doing that. So, like, it was cool to like pull up in an Airbnb, you know, like five other guys who are running an agency, stuff like that. So just like a cool experience.

Yeah, dude. It's so normalized within our community. But then you step outside of the community and it's like, no one knows what you're talking about. Yeah. And like, I come from a small town in upstate New York. I'm actually here right now. And it's like no one here knows what I'm talking about when it comes to, like, agencies. And I have my girlfriend at the last event and she doesn't come from this space at all. And she's like, what the hell is going on? What are these guys talking about? What are all these kids doing to make money? Like, it doesn't make any sense. And so like, that's. It's cool, right? Like that, you know, you're kind of like you're doing things differently, but then at the same time it's like discouraging in a sense. And it can get lonely, especially as things get tougher and tougher and you're having good days and bad days and client issues and slow sales seasons, whatever it might be. So just being able to talk to other guys that do the same exact thing and makes it feel normal is so needed. And that's what I love about client attention. Just the ability to connect with a lot of like minded people doing exactly what you're doing. So that's really cool, man. And how about like meeting some of the team and coaches in person as well?

Yeah, yeah, it was cool. I mean, the keynotes were cool. And just like, also just seeing that you guys are just normal dudes. Like, you guys just. I've been in the game for like a while, but you guys are just, you know, normal guys. Like, you crack jokes, you hang out. Yeah, it was like eye opening in a sense, because it's like, you know, there's no reason why I can't be at that level. So.

Yeah, and that's always my message at events. It's like, dude, like I'm. We're all on the same playing field. Like, I've been to the events where you go and you feel like lower than whoever the people are that are putting on the event. And you almost feel like closed off from being able to like access them or get time to speak with them after because it's kind of like they're, they're roped off. And I always got like a weird vibe from that. And then even at those events, the people in the audience, there's not like this sense of connection. You look around the room and people are like on their phones and they're not really talking to each other. At a client attention event, it's like everyone's assimilated, everyone's in conversation with someone. No one's like awkwardly in the corner, like not talking to anyone or just doing something completely different than what's happening at the event. And it's just so cool, man. It just shows like the, I think the authenticity of the community and like how much people actually do care about each other's success and helping one another out. And that's just, that's what it's all about, dude. It's fun to grow a business, but if you can't share that with others that you actually like our boys with and share your learnings with someone and see how it affects or impacts their business, like, that's what makes it so much more fun than just, hey, like I grew from 1k to 11k, you know, so that's awesome, bro. What were some challenges you faced through the program so far? I mean, obviously results 1k to 11k in, in just a couple of months are awesome, but like, it's never a smooth ride to the top. And so what were some challenges you faced and how do you overcome them?

I mean, challenges just like literally everything, I guess, but like, like specifically, I mean, operations like a big thing for me. When I came in, I didn't even know how to like hire editors. So like, even if I did get like an influx of clients or like one off projects, like I can only fulfill so much. So that was like one of the first things is like just dialing in where to find good candidates and stuff like that. And you help me out a lot with that stuff. But also talking to guys like Eamon and Steven, I was able to just know what's working right now and what they're doing to get good editors. So that was really helpful. DM stuff with Dylan Rich, that was a big thing because I wasn't getting calls on the calendar. I literally had no calls on the calendar. Yeah, my first few deals before CA were just like a couple hundred bucks close to the dms. So actually getting like a, like a process in place was pretty helpful as well. But I would say those are kind of like the two biggest things. Definitely. Like, options, I would say is a huge thing because like I said, if I didn't have editors, then I can't even take on more clients. So.

Geez. Yeah, it's crazy, man. Like, there's all these bottlenecks that right now you're not thinking about. And even before, like, you said, you weren't even thinking about, like, hey, like, I want to bring on a bunch of clients, but wait a second, I need to hire and I don't even know how to hire. And so again, like, agencies are. Are not like the most simple business model. You have to be thinking about each department at the same time. It's got to be marketing, sales, and fulfillment all working together. Otherwise it pretty much just falls apart. So being able to, like, operate on a daily basis in each of those departments because you're a solo founder, right? You're just working on your own. Yeah. So, man, like, that's. That's not easy. And like, things pop up in different departments that you might not even be thinking about that day that you just have to jump to and manage. But I love how you said, like, man, what went wrong? Everything. And it's like, that's just business, bro. Once you can get used to that waking up and just expecting problems to come your way and just getting excited about the opportunity to go out and solve them, then you can, you win. It's just most people can't stick with it long enough because they get burnt out by all the problems and all the negativity that swirl around, like, trying to achieve something.

Yeah. And I definitely hit that moment at one point where I was like, just like, so down on myself. And I remember David just like, yelled at me. David just, like started yelling at me and I was like, all right. Basically, it was better after that. And I was like, all right, cool.

Yeah, that's part of it. So, like, the reason why I kind of built client ascension to begin with is like, I grew up in a small town and it's like no one here I can relate to about building an online business. And when there were down times, it was like, dude, like, who do I talk to about this? Like, no one will really understand. And it sounds like wishy washy, but it's like that's part of the day to day of running a business or doing anything. It's like, you need a support group, you need A team. You need people you can go to to get help and opinions from uncertain things that are happening. Otherwise you just are stuck in your own head. And even if you have the answers and are like a good operator, it's really easy to just get like this bias around what you should do or how things are going, and you get really down and really up. And it's just like this roller coaster that's super unsustainable. So when you are in like this valley, it's so nice to be able to go to someone like David or someone in the program, even if it's another student, and just kind of get a reality check of like, hey, this is what I'm experiencing. Like, what should I do? And it's like, hey, dude, this normal. I just keep going.

Yeah.

And it's like just that little, little pep talk could be what keeps you from, you know, fully quitting on this thing.

Yeah.

So I love it, bro. Last question I really like to ask is like, what kind of feedback do you have? Or I guess advice. What kind of advice do you have for people that are in the agency game outside of joining client ascension? I always say that's like the number one piece of advice is to join client ascension. But outside of that, like, to younger agency owners that are just getting started, maybe they're at their first, you know, 1k a month, they're just validating their offer. Like, what's one thing to focus on that maybe you weren't even thinking about focusing on until you're at where you are now past the 10 camera?

I guess, like, one thing to focus on, it's hard to put it on that, but I would just say that the biggest, like, takeaway I've gotten is just like, to like, stay in the game and just like, yeah, you can't quit. You just got to keep pushing. Don't switch your offer nine different times. Hurt yourself in the long run. If you're a video editor for two years, you're just going to become the video editor in the space and people are eventually just going to. It all just compounds and comes back to you. So it's just like sticking to the.