The real story behind Scrappy ABM with Mason Cosby | People are People | Ep. 04

Um, hey everybody, welcome to a a special episode of the People Are People Podcast, the podcast where we tell the stories of the people behind the accounts. I'm lucky enough to be joined live in Denver uh, with Mason Cosby who Mason, you know, joined us in a talk at the Gartner Marketing Symposium. Um, and we we've searched far and wide and found a a shady piece of grass outside to to do this. So. >> I can confidently say this is the first podcast recording I've done sitting in the grass. >> Yeah. >> And I don't want it to be my last. So, thank you, Doug. >> You're welcome. Well, the the thing that prompted this ask from me and thanks again for doing it is yesterday we were kind of talking about the founding story of Scrappy ABM and you said, "Well, do you want to know the real story behind Scrappy ABM?" And I said, "Yeah." And I started hearing it and I was pretty captivated by it and I said, "Why don't we talk about this uh, on the pod?" And I was

uh, thrilled that you wanted to share. So, if you can tell us what's the real story behind Scrappy ABM? >> So, uh, the very long start to and short long story short on the start to Scrappy ABM is I really just wanted to replace my wife's income. Like that was the There was a lot more on the front end, but we find out we were having kids and uh, I ended up leaving a job that I was in that was is great people, great company, just I was in a position where I was working a lot and I wanted to be more present with with our family. So, transitioned jobs and then launched this little side hustle uh, with the intent of, you know, helping my wife stay at home and that was really it. Like there wasn't a grander, bigger vision or mission. It was just like it actually I didn't share this part with you. Um, the name even just came from I posted on LinkedIn around this concept of if you want to build a scrappy ABM program and I liked the the ring of it. Yeah. So, I uh I Googled the term

scrappy ABM, and my LinkedIn post popped up. I was like, "Oh, cool." So, like I'll just own this little corner of the internet, and that was that was the entire intent. It was just like I'll launch a small podcast. I'll probably pick up like one or two clients. >> Yeah. >> Uh and you know, just have a nice little side hustle. Maybe I'll help out a couple of people along the way. Um but then within the first 7 weeks um we ended up closing about $300,000 in revenue, which was more than my wife and I made combined. >> Well, wait. You kind of glanced over something. So, um >> A couple of things. >> Most people, if they're going to start a family you wouldn't say, "Hey, why don't you stop working? Let's Let's surrender one income, and then I'll quit my fairly stable job and just try to build a business." >> Yeah. Um So, there are a couple of elements here of like element one I was not intending to build a business or quit my job. Um

I truly was planning to like keep my full-time day job and like do this on like nights and weekends. Um but then I think like a lot of people actually in 2023 um the job that I was in that was a stable job was not so stable as well. So, after that first 7 weeks where we closed $300,000 I also went to my bosses at that job. I was like, "Hey, like there's some things that just like aren't working out." And they're like, "Yeah, we're actually going to do a layoff next week, and you're going to be a part of it. So, like you can just be done today if you want." I was like, "Oh, okay. So, there was that. Um So, within that you know, I when you close $300,000 in 7 weeks you're like, "Yeah, I have options." So, we ended up making the decision of All of this happened kind of mid-September. My daughter was born August 8th. So, by mid-September, uh kind of late September, all of this had already gone down of

like the 300k had been sold. I found out I was getting laid off from my job. My wife went on a maternity leave and we She was a nurse, so she got 3 months of half pay and then 3 months of FMLA. So, we took the full 6 months before she officially quit her job just like have a runway. So, when I ended up being fired, quitting, laid off, one of those weird scenarios that happens. >> Yeah. >> Um and then again, no fault of anybody. It's just I was a wrong fit for the company uh for what they needed. They needed volume demand generation and I'm a DVM guy. So, uh I know my lanes and >> Well, I'll tell you this. If I I don't want to meet someone that's never been kind of laid off, pushed out, fired. Like, if you don't have that story, I don't think you've worked enough. >> It's it's it's surprisingly common, just not talked about cuz I think there's a stigma around it of like, "Oh, I've been fired." And it's like, you know, stuff happens in a job. Um things change and for that company I was a part of, again, great people. Um their business model changed dramatically. I was not the right marketer for that new business model. >> Mhm.

>> That's fine. >> Cool. >> So, all that to say, my wife and I agreed we're going to give it a 3-month run of if I don't have enough revenue sustainably, um cuz one thing to sell $300,000 out of the gate as like project work. Um it was another thing to get that consistency from a monthly recurring perspective. Uh and then the other aspect is uh 10 weeks after, so like I had been 3 weeks in to like no longer having a job and then going all in on Scrappy. So, 3 weeks after all that happened, uh I had a client that committed to doing 180 of the 300. So, it was like 300 of it was like a couple projects and like one big client. >> Yeah. >> That one big client backed out of all 180. So, it was like, "Ooh, back down to 120. got it. That is not great. So, anyway, I Yeah, my 3-month kickoff had a quite a few uh kicks in the gut. And again, for context, we now have a 10-week-old at this point. My wife is trying to like be bought in, but it like it was tough. So,

yeah. >> Yeah. But well, let me So, even at 120k in 3 months is super impressive for just starting out. If you had a tip cuz you see a lot of people right now trying to do the fractional work, maybe going into a consulting. They want that freedom they've sort of earned the right to do it cuz they've worked so long and they can bring that value. Like what's the what's some advice for selling even in the beginning? I mean, that's a that's a lot >> So, >> for you. So, how you know >> when the 180 backed out, um like I knew I needed to go ahead and get something secured for the next 3 months to kind of one, just reestablish some confidence for myself. Um and then two, just so like I could reestablish some confidence for our family. So, what I did is I went to four CMOs and said I'll work for $100 an hour, 60 hours a month. I'll do anything you need. You know, I'm good for it. And like, if I do a terrible job, I'll just refund you. Uh I had one that took me up on it. And

then, that got us $6,000 a month that was like consistent. And what that ended up doing for us is we we are a relatively uh frugal family. So, six grand a month, even after taxes, was enough for us. I had enough income to live on cuz we live in Indiana, which is really nice. Um so when I did that though, what I then learned is, "Oh, there's like a way if you're a fractional that you can actually build a a model that's relatively simple to then understand." So, uh first is understand your budget in such a way that it you understand what you actually need to exist as a family. Uh that should then be the cost of one client. So, you charge one client whatever that number is. Two clients would then ideally be you're making twice as much as you need to exist, at which point you're then likely putting away some for investing, you're actually saving, you're eating out of like you have a life. And then at three clients, after you actually start to build significant wealth. And ideally you structure your

packages in such a way that you can deliver that level of value in 10 to 15 hours a week. Now, you're thinking 15 hours a week three clients that's 45 hours a week. Yeah. Like you're getting started. >> Sounds great. >> That sounds like what it takes to >> Yeah. >> to run a business. And then the other one that I outlined is client four um is yourself. So, I think the one thing that that I have been able to do for Scrappy, as I've talked to a lot of people, is we actually have produced content from day one um just in the form of our podcast. And I think having marketing content out there for us as a business um has enabled us to continue our growth um longer term. And even if I didn't want to build up the agency um a lot of people that I know that launched fractional businesses lasted 18 months because they tapped out their entire network. And then once their network was done, they had nothing that they were continuing to build up against. >> Yeah. >> Um so, they just kind of stalled out and then you know, ended up going back in house.

Which again, no shame in that. Um if you want to go back in house, amazing. But many of them did not, and it was something that they had to do because they did not know how to existentially continue creating new revenue for themselves. >> Right. So, why would um why would you want to bring on employees and grow the agency if you were like a one-person shop making really good money and you said you're putting money away, you're enjoying your lifestyle. This seems like a headache. >> Yeah. So, there's a actually a couple of elements which some people don't really fully believe me when I say this, but um I didn't know like I don't know how to say this other than just like I didn't know if I was actually as good as other people thought I was. So, in many ways hiring employees was to hire for my weaknesses so that I could make sure that I was delivering on what I had promised. And it was more actually brand reputation management. Um because people would come to me and be

like, "Can you do all this stuff?" And like I was pretty sure I could, but it's one thing if you think you can versus like, "Well, I'm going to hire this person and they're going to spend all of their time writing content." Like I could I was good enough to do strategy, some basic operations work, content and then like you know, we had a podcast business, too, so I was like doing edits. So, I was doing like eight jobs. And I just didn't think I could do eight jobs sustainably. Well, and like that sounds you know, kind of basic, but like inevitably, I was just like, "I just don't think this is sustainable." And the other thing is we So, by the time we got to January, so again, launched the business in July, left my job in September, we get to January. We're at that point doing about $50,000 a month. Um and I was working like 100 to 130 hours a week. And then my wife was working about 20 to 30 hours a week um for free. So, like between the two of us

the way that I frame it to friends is They're like, "Oh, it sounds like you're working a lot." I was like, "Yeah, I worked a month a week." >> Damn. >> So, like 40-hour work week, that's 160 hours a week or a month, and between my wife and I, we did that every week for 6 months. >> So, wait, was your wife part of the business? >> For the first 6 months. Um I trained her on how to be a podcast editor, so she during nap times and at night would do podcast editing um just to like help alleviate some of the stuff that I was doing. >> That's awesome. >> Yeah, it worked out. And then uh eventually I was like, wait, you can hire a podcast editor for like three grand a month? Yeah, I'm just going to do that. Um and it was very good for my wife and for our marriage cuz like just I'm a big fan of easier, clean relationships. So when I go from husband to boss and there's like reputation management on the it's like and she wasn't getting paid. So like it's really tough to hold an employee accountable that like doesn't get paid. >> Got it. >> Uh and she was like, well, I could either edit this podcast or I can take care of your child. I was like, that's a fair

I'll edit the podcast. >> Yeah. >> So. >> Yeah. >> Anyway. >> I'd say so. Well, let's jump ahead cuz you said Did you say 2023 you started this off? >> Mhm. >> Um I was under the impression this was a an older agency um and in the most positive way ever by the way. So what does uh Scrappy look like today? >> Today. >> Uh don't worry about revenue figures. Just but just you know, the people and how you function. >> Um So I I'm prepping for our all-hands. We essentially in the first year invoiced like we had closed more but actual invoice was about 160. In 2024 we invoiced a million, in 2025 we invoiced 2 million, and then this year we should do about 3.5 million in invoicing. Um which I think is pretty good. >> I think it's really good. >> So I'm I'm happy with it. Um So what it looks like today is we have a team about 17. Um so that's strategists, that's content writers, that's RevOps managers, project managers, designers, uh podcast editors, and then I have a

dedicated uh marketer and seller on our team. So today um I mainly now manage a team of people that are wildly talented and like way better at everything than I am, which is so fun uh cuz I mainly learn learn from them. Um and then I just get to hang out at fun conferences and sit in grass and record podcast episodes. >> Um and then really just do a lot of um teaching and training and support. Um so we've got working sessions with our team every single week where I hop in and just like help them make sure they know what how to do the work that they're trying to accomplish. >> Yeah, I've been lucky enough to meet a few members of the team. Shout out to Trevor and Lacy. >> Yeah. >> Jim in real life. Evan. No, you from the internet. You kind of real. Um let's let's end with this. Not that you want more competition, but if there's someone out there who's like I want to be the next Mason Cosby and get an agency going. What what's a step one very basic that they should think of? Other than connecting with Mason and asking questions cuz I must say you're very uh knowledgeable guy and you're open to

sharing which I appreciate because >> I try to. >> even this is podcast. I'm on your podcast platform now, so thank you. >> Yeah, happy to do it. Um so I was able to launch Scrappy like none of it was easy, but I want to be very candid that it was easier for me because when I launched my business I had already been in the ABM space for three or four years. I had a following on social of like 18,000 folks at that point. Um and my network was very well established because I had already been doing a podcast called The Marketing Ladder and I'd interviewed 120 CMOs. So before I launched my business um I essentially already had an established network of people that knew, liked, and trusted me and would hire me if I needed it. So that's how we got the first probably half million which is like existing relationships. People were

like, "Oh, yeah." Cool. I'm glad you're finally doing it. Like it was like, "Oh, yeah, this was like it was about time." That's kind of the what the sentiment was from a lot of people. So, if you're thinking about doing this, um I would start posting and publishing content >> Mhm. >> today. Um and the easiest thing to do is to start a podcast because the booking rate on average for a podcast is between 50 and 80% depending on your industry. I say that as a guy that has now helped launch 40 different podcasts in the past 3 years. >> Wow. >> Um so, when I say 50 to 80% what that functionally means is that somewhere between one and two and four out of five people will say yes if you ask them to come on a podcast. >> Mhm. >> So, it is just the best relationship development tool that is extraordinarily inexpensive. >> Yeah. >> So, first do that. There's tons of AI tools now that exist that did not exist when I started podcasting 6 years ago or 6 years ago. Uh where you can just like upload stuff, pull clips, and then post those on social. So, that's what I would do. Like, it's the number one piece of

advice cuz you get content that you can publish that builds your authority. Um and you get relationships that you wouldn't otherwise have. And like the main reason people trust me at all is because I've done enough interviews with really, really smart people and then my face is next to them. And if you do that at this point, like, 400 times, uh people will inevitably associate you with really smart people just by sheer repetition of brand association. >> That's great. I love I mean, I just love the fact that relationships matter and it seems like there was um just someone here at the this conference we were at very early on in his career. And all I was telling him was like, "Hey, just be nice to people because you'll end up working with them again or they're going to want to work with you with you." And it seems like that's sort of >> Yeah. >> the advice you just shared, which which is great. And obviously, we're calling this the People Are People Podcast, so it works out. Mason, thanks for the time, man. >> Appreciate it. >> All right, brother. We did it.