Isaac Wood On Escaping The 9-5 To Build A Successful Lead Gen Agency

All right, what's going on, guys? Andre Hagel Jr. Here back with another client ascension student spotlight interview. Here is one of the legends inside of the program, one of my favorite students, Isaac Wood. Welcome to the show, bro.

What's going on, Andre? Pumped to be here.

Likewise, dude. Pumped to be here. It's so cool to see and hear about your experience recently especially which we'll dive into with leaving your full time job to go all in on the agency. And I can relate so much to that experience myself when I made the leap. And so it's just cool, man. We're just jamming vibing here. We just turned on the record button and so let's get into it for the audience. Tell us a little bit about who you are and what you're currently working on.

For sure. What's up, everybody? My name is Isaac Wood. I am the founder of Lever Growth. We're a lead generation agency. We work with B2B service businesses, specifically digital marketing agencies and software businesses. We're helping folks get five to 10 more meetings each month with their ideal client on autopilot. That's the offer today.

That's awesome, man. And obviously it's a saturated market, as is anything. Right. I think one thing you learn early on in business is saturation. You can't really escape it. It's almost validation that this is an offer that a lot of people want and need. And so in a saturated market, not to go too far off topic, I just think this is super relevant for people to understand. How do you differentiate? How do you level up above everyone else in client ascension or even in the agency space that offer lead generation services?

Yeah. I think from a perspective of mindset. Right. Like you said it, there's a lot of validation that comes with a saturated market. That just means you need to be better. That means you need to be more focused on some of the intangibles. Right. Results are ultimately what everybody wants. And really nailing those, that's. That's very important and the, the ultimate of importance. But I think some of the other really important kind of smaller things are really nailing client communications, nailing your systems, nailing like all of those steps that get you to the point of having a really solid service or product. And that's, that's what I would say is, is really in my mind one of the biggest like reasons or differentiators.

Yeah.

As to how to stand out.

Yeah.

Just focus on your product.

An agency business is a service business. In service, it doesn't, like you said perfectly it's not all about results. It's a lot of the times about interactions and how you show up and what you say and how you treat your students or your clients in this case. So really well said, bro. Let's go into more of like your client ascension journey. So like, how did you hear about client ascension?

So to take a step a little bit further, step back. I joined in September, like first day of September. I had found you guys, I just probably on Twitter. I had been interested in getting into online business. I had built a course to help individuals find a, a job at a VC funded software company that kind of fell flat. That was like the first thing that I did. I was like, I need to do something else. I ended up converting and getting some coaching myself, trying to launch a leveraged offer, which is a little bit more of like a coaching program. Realizing very early on that it, it worked. And it and I acquired some clients and we had a good outcome, but I didn't have the mastery of the material that I needed in order to actually like fulfill on a consistent and scalable basis. And so I realized, you know what I need to do, I need to get just really, really specific on a single service and get really tight on that. And I found client ascension and ultimately just started running the sales process and heard about all the like the coaching calls and all the value adds and I was kind of like this seems relatively no brainer. And then ended up just diving into it concurrent to that. I was still working in a nine to five full time job at a software startup doing sales. So balancing that whole thing but always recognizing at the back of my mind the end goal is to do entrepreneurship and ultimately work for yourself.

That's so badass, dude. So you're juggling. I look at client ascension as like school. So you were essentially juggling school, a full time job and then a new business that you are the owner.

Yeah, right.

So that's a lot. That's a lot. That's why I say it's badass. And I was also going to ask if your vision was eventually to phase out of that job, which you already answered. We'll talk about that in a little bit. What I want to ask you about as well is like, was that a big decision for you? Because obviously you said it's a no brainer and we can market the out of it and make it out to be a no brainer, which now that you're in the inside, you can validate. Yeah, it very much is a no brainer. We do good work. But was that an easy decision for you to make? Because for a lot of people they had how to invest it in themselves to that extent or was that the first big investment you made in yourself? Or was that, you know, so it was.

So I, to do the leveraged offer that I had beforehand, I had invested in some coaching. I was like, this is a really great way to get skills quickly. That one just wasn't a great fit for me at that point in time. And so having been warmed up a little bit to that and just understanding, okay, you know, I think there's probably something to reinvesting in some kind of coaching and getting on the sales call. I worked with Tyler, I think, and yeah, it was, it was pretty much just like, this is the steps, this is what's happening, this is the outcome that you can expect to gain. To gain. And that was just very much in line with my own vision. And so it, it just like aligned it. It made sense.

Yeah, makes sense, right?

Yeah.

The, the process you just went through of like how you validated the decision is just. I wish more people thought that way because obviously we're on this call because you were rewarded for thinking that way and making a decision that big. And just a lot of people struggle, which I've. I totally understand. Right.

Yeah. It's funny because you think, oh, it's a substantial amount of money, right. But if you think about the time horizon in which you're considering, if you're running a business, it's not a six month endeavor, right. It's going to be way longer than that. So you think about it in the scale of that. And then also another thing that's really reinforced in the program and something that I've found as a really good mindset strategy is moving away from the deficit orientation where it's like, what happens if this bad thing happens, right? Like the fear and the risk association. And so what, what is just common discussion and practice and talk like. And coaching is assume the win, right? In sales calls like assume the close. You know, it doesn't always go that way, but if you, if you believe that it's going to work out and you continue to put in the actions, maybe you don't hit exactly what you're looking for, but you get in a. You directionally get there and then maybe you've actually done something better or greater than you would have originally anticipated.

I love that, bro. That's so high level thinking. And I literally 2 days ago I watched a Jordan Peterson video and the entire Video was about going to your. Your fears rather than letting fears come to you. And all he meant by that is if you take client ascension as an example, right. You're looking at the investment. That's a scary investment. And so most people are driven by the fear of, okay, I don't know if I should Invest, you know, $10,000 in this coaching program. What will happen if it doesn't work? Whatever, like, they're, they're negotiating. If they invest, what's going to happen? That's the fear. He said you could still use fear because fear is a great motivator. But the way to think of fear is, what if I don't invest in this program, what will happen? I'll stay in my job longer. I won't have all the answers. Everyone else will be way ahead of me. Right. And so if you use that fear, you still make the decision you want at the end of the day, and it's still driven by fear. It's just a different type. And so I thought that interesting.

Another, another thing to. To account for that you don't really recognize until you're actually inside is there's like this. The level of accountability that you're held to and that others hold each other to is a really important thing. Because I found, at least in my case, right. Having a job and starting a business and having all these goals and having all these things be juggled at one time, it's challenging to keep focused. And when you're in a community and group of people who are all singularly focused on different things, but generally the same, it really allows you to. To not only understand with greater clarity what's possible, but that, like, you can do it too. Yeah, it's just like that consistent consistency that. That really just separates it.

Yeah. A lot of times accountability is just saying that it's possible in the first place. Right. And that's what I was going to get into is like, accountability doesn't just mean, like, we're checking up on you every day, which a lot of the times we are. Accountability is just seeing other people implementing the same information that you have access to. And it's like, what the hell am I doing? Why am I not doing this? And so the question I want to get into next is like, where you were at as an agency when you joined Client Ascension. What would you say was the biggest problem that was preventing me from growing? Other than, of course, being the busiest man alive with a job, a school, education now, and running a company?

Yeah, I think for me, it Was dabbling, I think trying LinkedIn, being on Twitter, sending some emails, just doing a bunch of different things was generating a result but not really getting to where you need it to be fast enough. And so, you know, I think you've, you've shared this numerous times on calls that I've been on, at least where you just master a specific channel, right. That like focus and there's it and being able to just know that one, one channel can get you the results that you need without having to be like in 50 different, different places at once. And I think just even recognizing that that was kind of a light bulb for me because I was like, oh shit. Like I don't need to be everywhere at once right now. Just, just get really good at something and then continue to build from strength to strength long term.

Yeah. And my friend Jeremy was on my podcast yesterday and he put it very elegantly and this applies to exact situation we're talking about here. He said concentration leads to. Concentration will make you rich. Diversification will make you wealthy. So first you have to concentrate in one area. You could get rich from just sending cold emails or just posting content on Twitter. Not until you get rich should you diversify. Right. So now that you're rich, you're having the success through cold emailers or Twitter. Now you can tap into YouTube and you can tap into all these other things, but if you start with all of them, they're going to be very mediocre spread across the board and that's not what you want. So really well said. So I guess how. It's probably an obvious answer, but how did you solve that problem?

Well, initially it's, it's the ego driven. I can do it myself and let me try and trial and error and you know, you get results and it gets good and then you realize that time is one of those resources that is incredibly finite and is one of the biggest leverage points that you can have when you're early on and if you think about your, your capital, what you have and you're willing to invest in something or, or, or a substantial expense that you're thinking about investing in. Right. Like today, that feels like a big number. However, if you're able to build something big enough that that number then becomes much more irrelevant because you're able to, to, to surpass it by multiples.

So yeah.

Did I answer the question?

I mean I, the pro. I guess the, the question is like how do you solve the problem of. When you mentioned when you first started in client ascension with your agency we're kind of all over the place. So how do you solve that problem?

Oh, within. Okay. So, yeah, you're saying, yeah, obviously joining has been instrumental, but there's a number of things that you can point to that are going to drive success straight up. Just like participation in the program, I would say, like, actually doing, watching the videos and like, implement implementation, implementing what is being taught. You know, it's like joining the calls is important, but I found that if you have the fundamental skill sets, which is what the purpose of the videos are, then you can hop on the calls and you have a little more mastery of the material and then you can just have better conversations, ask better questions versus the things that have already been answered ad nauseam in the Slack channel or in. In the. In the Kajabi. So just making sure that you, like, start by. Just go through and just watch all the videos from there, like, implement, join the calls, get to know people and just focus. Just focus. Really.

So good, bro. So good. And you've done that so well. Right? Like, you're in your private channel, you're asking questions that are so specific to your situation because you went through the foundational aspects of it and you know how it applies to what you're trying to achieve.

Yeah.

And we talked about this a bit off camera, but you're in the same program as everyone else in Client Ascension. You all have access to the same information and the same assets. So why is it that someone like Isaac has so much more success than the average student? It's because all the things he's telling you right now, like, you don't need to go search for the secrets. They're not secrets. It's right in front of your face. Um, and Isaac just dropped pretty much a master class for Client Ascension students listening. Um, and so just great. You do all those things. Congrats. You're waiting. What does that actually look like?

What's the question? That was funny.

Like, what does that actually look like winning and. And doing these things? Like, what kind of results does that drive for you as a business owner? I know the biggest one is probably being able to quit your nine to five.

Yeah, man. That. That is being able to achieve that dream of doing entrepreneurship full time. That, to me, was something that seemed like something that I could definitely achieve, but it seemed like it was very far in the future given the existing circumstance. So being able to just have this accountability and guidelines and path that at least points you in the right direction, those are like, the fundamentals of it. But as far as like the successes, you know, obviously acquiring new clients. That's great. You, you, you start to get a bunch of clients. You, you start with zero and then you get one and then you have one and you're like, okay, now I gotta work with these guys. And you figure it out and you know, maybe it's great. Some, you know, I'm sure there's some problems that you have to solve. I know I did. And you, you acquire another one. It gets a little bit faster and slightly easier. But then the problems change. Not in a bad way, but they just, they shift in the sense of. Once I was focused so much on setting up my domains and you know, scrubbing a lead list. Now it's something where you build the silos for different operational like aspects of your, of your fulfillment and like that allows you to kind of get out of that weeds in day to day kind of fulfillment cycle. And it allows you to focus on the sales and the marketing that allows you to just continue to grow it. And you know, I love hopping on your call, Andre, like you always are, are given such, such knowledge in that session. Because that's what we learn and that's what you teach is just systematize, you know, specialize and systematize and get delegate and automate.

Yeah, it's a continuation. Right. It's just working your way up that, those steps. So. And again, dude, like, yeah, the program is great. I think the information in there is second to none, but it's all about the student and what they do with it. Right. And so putting the students in perspective, there's, as you've seen, we've went from, you know, a couple hundred or even a couple dozen students to now over 350 today. Currently, by the end of the year it might be over 500. Right. And so there's so many students, but sometimes it doesn't feel that way. Sometimes it feels like we keep seeing the same students, like the Isaacs of the world of the client ascension. And so what would be your advice to the students that aren't showing up or just aren't getting the results they want from the program?

Yeah, I think it's focus on inputs. That's really all it is. You know, the. I can't, I can't take credit for that initial thought, but it's something that I continue to reinforce in my own mind every single day that the outputs are a result of the inputs. And so if you just consistently like do the work and you put it in the time the outcomes will come, they they will just appear because it's just inevitable. And if you find that you're struggling, you're going to be hitting roadblocks no matter what. And it's just the willingness to accept them and solve the problem and move past them, bro.

The fact that she said that just made my day. Inputs over outputs, baby. That's the success formula. Like literally, especially in cold email and Legion. It's so easy to get caught up and tied emotionally to outcomes. Right. And to be so results oriented. And I feel like that just destroys so many people's potential.

Yeah.

And so Ed Mylett says it better than even I can say it. He says the only things you can control are your actions and your attitude. The rest will take care of itself. And if you really do believe it, and you don't just say it once and believe it, you do exactly what you said is you repeat it to yourself and remind yourself of it every single day. And when you do that exactly like you said, the results, the outcome, they're there when they need to be, when they're supposed to be. And if you truly believe that, like you can't lose, you really can. So well said, bro. Last question is what is some advice you'd have for someone that's just getting started in the agency business? Right. It's such a unique business model that's so accessible to so many people. The obvious answer, like I already told you, is yeah, go join client ascension, duh. But that's not an answer that I want to hear from you. I want to hear something else based on your experience as an agency owner.

That's a great question. Aside from just what kind of was just discussed earlier about focusing on inputs, it's be ready to be challenged each day, but accept the challenge and accept that the problems will continue to arise and that it won't be easy because if it was easy, then everybody would do it and it's just kind of the nature of life. Anything worthwhile doing has some element of challenge to it and you just need to embrace that fact and lean into it and it's going to make it more fun. Because if you're in the mindset that this is an expectation versus like this is a detriment or this is something that I need to overcome, then you're just going to be able to handle it so much better and more just long term consistency because it's just one problem arises, you're creating another. Like you solve it and then that creates another issue. Yeah, I say problem, but it's not Necessarily, you know, a negative connotation. In a sense, it's more of just a something to solve for. Yes. Is probably a better way to think about it.

Yes. And early on it's a lot more difficult because you're so new to it. But every time you solve the problem, it just builds your confidence in your set of beliefs that you can continue to do, do that. And so in the beginning, yeah, it's going to be hard. And that's why I'm such an advocate for like communities like Client Ascension, because you're right there with your boys like all of those other guys in the community are experiencing and facing the same difficulties and challenges every single day. So doesn't it make it way easier to have a group of people that you can, you know, go to and talk with and just relate with? Yeah. 100. So really cool conversation, bro. Um, anything else you want to say?

I just want to say it's been, it's been a phenomenal experience thus far and you know, I, I've found that not only have I learned quite a bit, but I've also started to meet like legitimate connections and even in person which is cool. Like you can take it online into real life and it's to me the long term value and the long tail on it is, is the, the network and the community aspect because the you know, the skills build over time. But you know, getting to know a community of individuals who are like minded but also very diverse in their mindsets is. Is very rich environment for you know, cross pollination of ideas, collaborations and just general growth.

Love that dude. So last question I have of course is where can our audience find you, follow you and just learn more about the work you do in case they're interested in the legion as well.

Yeah, for sure. So my company is lever growth IO my Twitter is isaac_wood1. I'm also on LinkedIn and yeah, I'm on YouTube as well. Isaac Underscore Wood. But yeah, just find me anywhere. I'll be around. Happy to just reach out to me. I'll, I'll respond and we'll, we'll connect.

Yeah and a lot of people listening are inclined Ascension so probably even even Slack hit you up in Slack. Yeah, exactly. Love that.

Yeah. Let me new people.

Awesome man. Yeah. So guys, thank you so much. If you're here, still appreciate you spending the time with Isaac and I really cool inspirational story that Isaac had to share and so I appreciate and grateful for him being here to do so. And if you're still here, hit the subscribe button. Go check out client ascension.com if you're not already in there. And if there's anything we can do to better serve you, leave us a comment, reach out, do whatever you got to do. But we're very accessible. So that's all for today. We'll see you all on the next one. Peace.