Episodes
Dec. 2, 2025
The Four-Hour Life and the Realities of Passive Income with Dan Andrews
In this episode of Retained Trust, host Karl Hughes speaks with Dan Andrews—entrepreneur, podcaster, and co-creator of the Tropical MBA and Dynamite Circle. Dan recounts his entrepreneurial journey from corporate frustration ...
Nov. 18, 2025
Inside the Lab: Trials and Takeaways from a Challenging Quarter with Manuel Weiss
In this episode of Retained Trust , host Karl Hughes sits down with his co-founder Manuel Weiss for their quarterly update. They open up about recent challenges and wins across their portfolio, especially the contrasting traj...
Nov. 4, 2025
Scaling Smart: Inside adbm.agency’s First 1.4 Years
In this episode of Retained Trust , host Karl Hughes reconnects with Kurt Schnakenberg, founder of adbm.agency, to reflect on the agency’s growth, challenges, and pivotal lessons from its first 1.4 years. Kurt discusses the r...
Oct. 21, 2025
Financial Precision: Chris Gwinn on Year One of Midwest CFO
In this episode of Retained Trust , host Karl Hughes reconnects with Chris Gwinn, founder of Midwest CFO, to explore what he's learned in the first year of building his fractional CFO firm. Chris shares how refining driver-ba...
Oct. 7, 2025
Jon Schroeder’s Path from Tech to Wellness
In this episode of Retained Trust, host Karl Hughes speaks with Jon Schroeder, founder and CEO of Joy Fluent. Jon shares the journey behind BrewJoy, a new plant-based product designed to prevent coffee-related teeth stains, a...
Sept. 23, 2025
Scaling Developer Trust with Jake Ward
In this episode of Retained Trust, host Karl Hughes speaks with Jake Ward, founder and CEO of Data Protocol, a platform supporting developer education and experience. Jake shares his path from public affairs to tech entrepren...
Sept. 9, 2025
From Acquisition to Agency CEO: Derek Delost’s DotYeti Journey
In this episode of Retained Trust, host Karl Hughes speaks with Derek Delost, who shares his path from digital marketing burnout to agency ownership through the acquisition of DotYeti. Derek explains why starting from scratch...
Sept. 2, 2025
Building Relationships, Not Just Pipelines: Christian Banach on Agency Growth
In this episode of Retained Trust, host Karl Hughes speaks with Christian Banach, a growth consultant for marketing agencies with a background that spans concert promotions, celebrity events, and enterprise sales. Christian s...
Aug. 26, 2025
Scaling Without Sacrifice: Jesse Gilmore on Redefining Agency Success
In this episode of Retained Trust, host Karl Hughes speaks with Jesse Gilmore, founder of Niche in Control and author of The Agency Owner’s Guide to Freedom . Jesse shares his journey from hustle-heavy entrepreneurship to cre...
Aug. 19, 2025
Freelancer to Multi-Brand Agency Leader with Greg Henry
In this episode of Retained Trust, host Karl Hughes talks with Greg Henry, founder of Push10, about his evolution from solo freelancer to leading multiple specialized agency brands. Greg shares how a focus on higher-quality c...
Aug. 12, 2025
The Service Ladder: Greg Hickman on Productization and Building Lean Agencies
In this episode of Retained Trust, host Karl Hughes speaks with Greg Hickman, founder of Alt Agency. Greg shares his journey from running a full-service marketing automation agency to building a lean education and consulting ...
Aug. 5, 2025
From Stuck to Scaling: Ross Brown on Helping Agencies Break Through
In this episode of Retained Trust, host Karl Hughes speaks with Ross Brown, founder of Flex Ops and former managing director of a fast-scaling influencer marketing agency. Ross shares lessons from helping agencies scale past ...
July 29, 2025
How to Exit Your Agency the Smart Way
In this solo episode of Retained Trust, host Karl Hughes walks through the real-world process of selling a digital marketing agency. Drawing on his experience as both a buyer and seller, Karl lays out the key financial concep...
July 22, 2025
Diving Deep with Lana Rafaela
In this episode of Retained Trust, Karl Hughes speaks with Lana Rafaela, founder at Cherry Red Content, a boutique agency focused on tailored content marketing solutions for early-stage, bootstrapped startups. Lana shares her...
July 15, 2025
Building Agency Value with Manuel Weiss
In this episode of Retained Trust, Karl reunites in person with partner Manny to break down how they’ve scaled their agencies and the lessons they’re carrying forward. They discuss real growth numbers, sales call improvements...
July 8, 2025
JD Graffam on Building, Buying & Balancing Agencies and SaaS
In this episode of Retained Trust , host Karl Hughes talks with JD Graffam, founder of Simple Focus and operator of a portfolio of SaaS companies. JD shares how he grew from a small-town agency owner to running multiple busin...
July 1, 2025
Systems to Space with Louis Shulman
In this episode of Retained Trust, host Karl Hughes sits down with Louis Shulman, co-founder of Orbit, to explore how a content marketing agency evolved into a multi-pronged venture encompassing data analytics, automation tha...
June 24, 2025
The Exit Equation: Len Bruskiewitz on Preparing Your Business to Sell
In this episode of Retained Trust, host Karl Hughes speaks with Len Bruskiewitz, founder of Greater Heights Coaching, about how small business owners can better prepare for a successful exit. With decades of experience in tec...
June 17, 2025
Early Bets and Big Gains in Dev Marketing with Rebecca Mosner
In this episode of Retained Trust, host Karl Hughes talks with Rebecca Mosner, co-founder of Maximize Partners, about the agency’s journey from a developer-focused content marketplace to a high-touch consultancy. Rebecca shar...
June 10, 2025
Garrett Mehrguth on Scaling, Acquiring, and Staying Sharp
In this episode of Retained Trust, host Karl Hughes sits down with Garrett Mehrguth, founder of Directive and Abe, to unpack what it really takes to build, scale, and sustain a high-performing digital agency. Garrett shares w...
June 3, 2025
Mastering LinkedIn for Agency Growth with Aman Ghataura
In this episode of Retained Trust, host Karl Hughes speaks with Aman Ghataura, founder of The Media Engine, about his evolution from a number two in a digital agency to starting and scaling his own business. Aman shares how h...
May 27, 2025
John Doherty’s Journey to Sustainable Agency Growth
In this episode of Retained Trust, host Karl Hughes speaks with John Doherty, founder of EditorNinja. John recounts the winding path from running a marketplace agency to building a thriving productized editing service. The tw...
May 20, 2025
Marketing Without the Nonsense with Susan Tyson
In this episode of Retained Trust, host Karl Hughes speaks with Susan Tyson, a fractional CMO and author based in Chicago. Susan breaks down how small business owners can handle marketing strategy without fluff or jargon. Wit...
May 13, 2025
Leading & Growing with Trust with Patty Campagna
In this episode of Retained Trust, host Karl Hughes sits down with leadership coach and entrepreneur Patty Campagna to explore what makes entrepreneurial leadership unique—and challenging. Patty shares her journey from corpor...