Celebrating Episode 200: Milestones and Insights from the Agency Accelerator Podcast Journey

Welcome to this monumental 200th episode of the Agency Accelerator Podcast. My name is Rob DaCosta, and I cannot believe I'm sitting here right now recording episode 200. When I started this show back in 2019, it was just a small side project and I never dreamed I'd make it this far. I was just hoping to help a few other agency owners by sharing my lessons learned and impacting just a few people. Yet here we are, over 500,000 downloads later, ranked among the top business podcasts with guests from all over the world. It's really incredibly surreal and humbling. So before we dive into looking back on this journey, I want to just take a moment to soak this all in and thank you, the listener. Whether you've been here since episode one or just recently binged the back catalogue, without your downloads, reviews and messages and word of mouth support, I. I'd just be talking to myself right now. It's been your feedback, stories of breakthroughs and growth fueled by this show that inspired me to keep producing episodes week after week. To know that the lessons learned from my own entrepreneurial journey and from my guests can positively impact other agency leaders feels incredibly meaningful. And it's one of the key reasons why I do what I do to make an impact in the world. My commitment is that over the next 200 episodes, the content will continue to get better and we will continue to build an amazing community of agency owners. So buckle up because this ride is just getting started. Okay, let's dive into looking back at the last 200 episodes by Winding it back to the very beginning. Cue the throwback music. Accelerate your agency's profitable growth with tools, tips and value added interviews with your host, agency owner and coach, Rob DaCosta. Welcome to the Agency Accelerator Podcast. My name is Rob Dacosta. I'm an agency owner and coach, and I am super excited to finally get this podcast going. This introductory episode, let me first of all tell you a little bit about myself. It's fun going back to episode one and listening to how it all began. And of course, if you want to go and listen to the whole episode, please do. But. Welcome to the 200th episode of the Agency Accelerator Podcast. We have come a long way since the first episodes in December 2019. In fact, I remember having my first guest on and spending hours editing the content and thinking, this is going to take me so long. But from humble beginnings, the Agency Accelerator Podcast has now over half a million downloads. Can you believe that? When I started, I was well aware of the depressing Stats that most podcasts fell around seven episodes or less before they become abandoned and and the podcaster realizes how much work it's going to take and fail to find a way of integrating it into their weekly working life. But I was determined that that would not be me and it would not be the case for the agency accelerator. In fact, it took me a while to get going to make sure that I had everything in place so I could record an episode every single week. I set my sights on getting to episode 10 and episode 20 and then 50. And I refused, just to be another statistic, even if it felt like I was talking to myself, which, to be honest, is how it felt for the first episodes. But I followed some advice from a podcasting expert who said, don't look at any of your stats for the first hundred episodes, just plow on. And that's exactly what I did. I implemented consistent systems, I scheduled guests as far ahead as I possibly could, and I got really clear on my niche, which is servicing marketing agency owners between 1 and 25 staff. And slowly but surely things started to gain traction. I'd be talking to people and they'd say, oh, I've been listening to your podcast for a while. And I knew that, that it was starting to work and I knew that I was starting to have an impact on people. Yet back then, not even in my wildest dreams did I believe that I would still be creating episodes every single week, 200 episodes and counting, with an ever growing audience. So for any podcasters, or any would be podcasters out there feeling that initial lag and that self doubt, know that the early days are always the hardest. But just plow on, put your systems in place, be consistent every single week, even if, like me, you feel you're talking to no one. And before you know it, you'll get to episode 200. So since that amateur first episode on December 6, 2019, here are some show stats. So since that very first episode back in 2019, we've had over 500,000 downloads globally across all platforms, with Apple podcasts accounting for 63% of our listeners, with Spotify in second place at 13%. The show has been streamed in 62 countries. And the top listening countries include, first of all the uk, secondly the us, then Australia, then India, then Canada, then Azerbaijan, believe it or not, South Africa, Switzerland and the Philippines. The most popular episode so far has been the one called the Four Foundations of Building a Scalable Agency, which is focused on systemization. Second is our episode on pricing strategies. And I'll make sure I put a link to both of those episodes in there so you can see why there are top performing episodes. We've also featured 76 fantastic guests and they hail from the UK, US, Australia and parts of Europe. And they have generously shared their expertise and I'm sure you'll agree with me that you've had some good learnings from it. Now, talking of learnings, here are some of my own key learnings from over 200 episodes. First of all, number one is the importance of consistency. Turning up week after week has been absolutely crucial, even when motivation dips. And I like I said, I feel like I'm talking to a vacuum and talking to nobody. Building authority as a podcast host happens gradually through repetition and reliability. Number two is quality over quantity. At the same time, it's been really important that I produce high quality episodes as well as showing up week after week. In fact, every time I record an episode, I'm trying to make it a little bit better than the last one. As I always tell my clients, just aim to be 1% better every day and things will keep improving. Thirdly is the power of community. Developing relationships with both devoted listeners and great guests who are navigating that agency growth has been enormously rewarding. And of course, building a community helps you amplify your impact. As I say, most coaches, including myself, do what they do because they want to make an impact in the world and the podcast has been a really great way of doing that. Number four is feedback over vanity metrics. So whilst download stats are nice milestones, listener reviews and feedback from people have been super important and they fuel me much more. In fact, one of the things I've learned about podcasting is it's very difficult to get very accurate stats. There aren't, there isn't a kind of Google Analytics for the podcasting world and it's very disparate across all the different platforms. Number five is authenticity above all. So while sound quality and formatting and slickness really matters, what connects most with you guys? The audience is transparent, storytelling, being super honest and authentic, and insights coming from my own experiences as well as my guests experiences as well. Now, in the next 200 episodes, the goal is to keep finding standout guests, improve listenability, grow the audience, get more reviews, which is going to help show the podcast to more people. And I'm also going to be trialing some serialized content around specific agency struggles like new business development and account management. In fact, the first series of maybe three to four episodes are going to be focused on client service and client management. Some specific goals I've got for the next 200 episodes are first of all, to reach 50,000 downloads per month, to rank in the top 30 business podcasts on Apple, and to get two to four sponsors per year which help fund the production of the podcast and help me continually improve the quality of it. On a personal level, I'm committed to sharpening my interview and recording techniques through more training and getting feedback and using that feedback to help me improve most mostly from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you, the listeners, for sharing this journey with me so far. I literally couldn't be doing this without your support and I would indeed be talking to a big vacuum. Now, before I wrap up this short episode celebrating 200, I want to make a special request for this milestone. If you enjoy the show and you've gotten value from it over the years, I'd be incredibly grateful if you would leave a review on Apple Podcasts to help more agency owners discover the show. Reviews truly make a huge differ when it comes to the podcast algorithm, and to be honest, it only takes 60 seconds of your time. Just open up Apple Podcasts on your phone, search for the agency accelerator, scroll down to the reviews section and tap write a review. Then leave an honest review rating from 1 to 5 stars. I hope you'll give me 5 stars and a couple of sentences about what you like best or how the show has helped you. I read every single review and I appreciate all your support that you've given to help grow the Agency Accelerator into a top resource for the agency industry. So thank you in advance. Leaving ratings and reviews is one way you can celebrate this milestone with me, also helping me reach more agency owners to have a bigger impact during the next 200 episodes. So here's to accelerating your agency's growth over the next 200 episodes and beyond. Sam.