Nick Ruest has lived multiple business lives—from dominating local SEO in the early 2010s when the map didn't even exist in many Canadian cities, to closing over $30 million in sales in a single year working in finance, to now building enterprise-grade AI systems that are quickly getting downloaded by hundreds of developers worldwide. He's the co-founder of the Agentics Foundation, a global nonprofit teaching agentic engineering, and he's currently developing multiple AI platforms including AdProof AI for Shopify stores.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• ✓ The underground method for setting up lead gen sites using storage facilities (not virtual offices)
• ✓ Why Nick measures his success by how many times he fails each day
• ✓ The exact sales strategy for selling leads before you even have a client
• ✓ How to get past gatekeepers by understanding what THEY'RE afraid of
• ✓ The AI revolution happening right now that's replacing 6-month engineering projects with 3-week builds
• ✓ Why limiting beliefs cost Nick years of potential growth (and how he overcame them)
• ✓ The storage facility job that taught him business management skills worth millions
• ✓ How to reverse-engineer competitor sales pitches to improve your own
• ✓ The industries with high search volume but low competition
• ✓ Why virtual offices don't work anymore and what to do instead

Nick doesn't hold back in this conversation. He shares the exact tactics, the mistakes that cost him years, and the mindset shifts that finally unlocked success. Whether you're in SEO, running an agency, or exploring AI, this episode is packed with strategies you can implement immediately.

You can connect with Nick on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-ruest/.

Check out the full episode at BizGrowMojo.com. Sign up for our newsletter where you’ll get updates about upcoming episodes and guests, insights and breakdowns from previous episodes as well as marketing and business tips you can apply to your own business: https://bizgrowmojo.com/newsletter/.

Building Multiple Businesses: Inside a 30-Person Agency with Erica D'Arcangelo

Erica D'Arcangelo is the founder of two thriving agencies with over 30 team members, and she's doing it all while growing a successful pizza podcast. In this episode, we pull back the curtain on what it really takes to scale a digital marketing business.

What You'll Learn:

• The exact outreach numbers: Why Erica’s insane number of messages per week are the baseline for growth (It’s probably a lot more than you’d think.)
• How to scale from $1M to $10M (and why that's the hardest growth phase)
• Why organic SEO traffic converts better than any other channel—and how long it really takes to see results
• How to structure your agency team with clear roles and organizational charts from day one
• Why video content is becoming non-negotiable for digital marketing success
• The truth about AI in content creation: where it helps and where human oversight is critical

Whether you're building your first agency or scaling to eight figures, Erica's practical insights on team building, client acquisition, and staying consistent through the slow-growth phases will give you the roadmap you need.

You can learn more about Erica and her business at createwant.com, webcontentdevelopment.com, or her pizza podcast at: https://www.youtube.com/@AStoryAboutPizza

Learn more about becoming a guest, sponsoring episodes and where else you can listen at BizGrowMojo.com. Sign up for our newsletter where you’ll get updates about upcoming episodes and guests, insights and breakdowns from previous episodes as well as marketing and business tips you can apply to your own business: https://bizgrowmojo.com/newsletter/.

Cold Email Tactics That Actually Work & The 3-Year Strategy That Changed Everything

Marc McDougall has been running his freelance web design business for 13 years, specializing in conversion optimization and full-service work for software companies. In this episode, he pulls back the curtain on the marketing strategies that have kept his pipeline full for over a decade.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• Why paid discovery projects became Marc's game-changer for landing five-figure contracts
• The unconventional cold email approach that gets 50% reply rates (yes, really)
• How to use video outreach without spending hours per prospect
• The brutal truth about growing on YouTube: commit to weekly uploads for a very long time
• Common landing page mistakes that are killing your conversion rates
• Why asking "why?" repeatedly sets you apart from desperate competitors
• The power of lowering activation energy on your calls-to-action
• How Marc closed $105,000 in client work from YouTube (and the mistake he made afterward)

Marc shares raw, honest insights about the entrepreneurial journey—from the "pit of despair" when nothing seems to work, to the systems and mindset shifts that create sustainable success. Whether you're a freelancer, agency owner, or small business trying to generate leads, this episode delivers actionable strategies you can implement immediately.

You can learn more about Marc and his business at https://marcmcdougall.com.

Learn more about becoming a guest, sponsoring episodes and where else you can listen at BizGrowMojo.com. Sign up for our newsletter where you’ll get updates about upcoming episodes and guests, insights and breakdowns from previous episodes as well as marketing and business tips you can apply to your own business: https://bizgrowmojo.com/newsletter/.