Bouncing Client to Client? Delegation for Agency Owners (with Landon Gatliff)

If your week feels like bouncing client to client with no room left to work on the business itself, this one will land. 

My guest, Landon Gatliff, is the founder of Gatliff Marketing Consultants, a marketing agency in rural Arkansas serving businesses and organizations both locally and out of state. Landon started the agency as a junior in high school building websites. He now runs it full time, covering brand, ads, commercials, and billboards, while finishing his degree online. 

What makes this worth your time is how early he learned something that costs founders years. Delegation for agency owners is not a reward you earn at scale. It is the thing that creates it. When his own company needed a commercial, he hired an outside crew rather than working both sides of the camera. The result beat anything he would have made alone. 

We get into the tension you know well: staying visible while staying booked, using AI without letting it become your voice, and choosing the right clients instead of every client.

Books Mentioned

• The Bible
• How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Guest CTA

Want to connect with Landon? Visit gatliffmarketingconsultants.com to book a consultation or run his marketing assessment, and follow him on Facebook and Instagram at Landon Gatliff.

I want to invite you to check out the Committed Mastermind, a community I help lead along with world-class leaders like JC and Karen Hite, Vinnie Fisher, and Jonathan Mast, plus incredible mentors like Dr. Gary Chapman, author of The 5 Love Languages, and many others.

This is for entrepreneurs who want to build a thriving business without sacrificing their faith, their family, or their health.

Check out the Committed Mastermind at https://committedmastermind.com/

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Transcript

Cold Open And Guest Tease

Dr. William Attaway 1:21

I'm so excited to have Landon Gatliff on the podcast. Landon's the founder of Gatliff Marketing Consultants, a small marketing agency based in rural Arkansas that serves businesses and organizations, both locally and out of state. Landon's building his agency around a simple belief. Every business is different, and marketing should reflect that. Passionate about serving small businesses and organizations, Landon focuses on helping clients communicate more clearly and connect more effectively with the people they serve. He's especially passionate about storytelling and believes many businesses struggle not because they have a bad product or service, but because they struggle to clearly communicate their value. His faith, relationships, and small town roots play a major role in how he approaches leadership and business. Landon, I'm so glad you're here. Thanks for being on the show. Well, thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_02 2:19

I really appreciate it.

Intro 2:24

Welcome to Catalytic Leadership, the podcast designed to help leaders intentionally grow and thrive. Here is your host, author, and leadership and executive coach, Dr. William Attaway.

Dr. William Attaway 2:41

Hey, I'd love to start with you sharing a little bit of your story, Landon, with our listeners, particularly around your journey and your development as a leader. How did you get started?

SPEAKER_02 2:51

So whenever I was in high school, I was really pushed to be involved in extracurricular activities. And one of those was FBLA. And whenever I was younger, I was always terrified of public speaking. But my mom actually pushed me into doing it. And she told me, Landon, that you have to do this. And I ended up doing public speaking. And it's something that I grew to just really enjoy and really like. And I realized it wasn't as bad as I originally thought it was. And so after that, I joined FBLA, which stands for Future Business Leaders of America. And I've always been interested in business and politics. And so I was kind of gravitated toward that. And I took up leadership roles in FBLA and was a state officer. And so that really developed some public speaking skills with me. But then also it just helped develop my business journey. And so whenever I was in high school, I was actually a junior in

Welcome To Catalytic Leadership

SPEAKER_02 3:45

high school, whenever I started my business. And so I ran my business throughout high school. And now I'm in college. I do all my college online. And so now I run my business pretty much full-time here. And so that's kind of how I got started. And then marketing-wise, really why I wanted to do

From Shy Speaker To Leader

SPEAKER_02 4:02

marketing is because I saw just so many small businesses. I live in a pretty rural town. And so I saw so many small businesses just all around here. A lot of the times they just lack marketing-wise to know what to do. And so from their websites to their social media. And so there's a real gap for rural businesses. And that's kind of my niche. And I specialize in helping mostly rural businesses because just businesses in the big city, they're completely different. Really, my approach on marketing is to just really get to understand that specific business because every single business that I work with, they have different customers, they have different goals. And even if they might be in a similar category, they're completely different. And so I really take my marketing and try to tailor it specifically to them because I think that's whenever you get the best results. And not trying to tempolize every single product and service as your agency.

Dr. William Attaway 5:06

I want to dive in here because a whole lot of people listening, I imagine, are thinking, wait a minute, you started your agency when you were in high school? I did, yes. Like what was the catalyst for that? Because there's a whole lot of people

Finding A Niche In Rural Marketing

Dr. William Attaway 5:20

who uh did not start a digital marketing agency that young. What caused you to say, man, I I think I'm ready to jump into this?

SPEAKER_02 5:28

I would say that I've always been very ambitious, but also it was a skill that I know how to do. So originally, whenever I started my business, I was just doing websites. And that's something that I knew how to do. And then as time went on, I realized, you know, I should be doing more. And I can be serving my customers better by doing more. And so that's really how it fell all into.

Dr. William Attaway 5:50

And so now you serve your customers, your clients, uh, with a fully orbed marketing strategy. You're thinking not just about a website, but you're thinking even far beyond this, to helping them build their brand, helping them build their digital identity online.

SPEAKER_02 6:05

That is correct. So everything from websites to commercials to ads to branding, billboards, all of it, really, I just want to be able to serve my clients in the best way possible. And so they don't have to outsource to so many different marketing faucets, um, but they can do it through one company. And I believe with that, we're just able to serve

Starting An Agency In High School

SPEAKER_02 6:27

on a better level because I'm able to take the time to really get to know that client and understand what they're trying to accomplish.

Dr. William Attaway 6:34

You know, when I was reading your bio, it said that that your faith and your relationships are very important to you, as well as your small town groups. You know, a lot of people listening, like me, are people of faith. How does that intersect running your own business?

SPEAKER_02 6:50

So my parents have always, you know, I've grown up in church all my life. And so they were amazing, they're amazing role models for me, just really modeling that um and putting God first in, you know, all my decisions. But um, you know, as running a business, it's it's not easy and it can be testing. And, you know, just one of the things that I found, and maybe some encouragement that I could just offer to anyone listening, is that, you know, I found that, you know, just praying and just seeking God whenever you're having struggles or maybe you're uncertain about what to do business-wise or relationship-wise, it is so helpful. Um, and you know, oftentimes we worry about so many things, but I found, you know, I worry quite a bit. I found that my worrying just doesn't do any good. Because number one, most of the time I can't do anything to fix it. And then number two, after it's all done, you look back and you wonder, why did you worry about that? Because it was so it was pointless to worry about that. And so just really in times like that, trusting in God and just praying. Um, that just helps so much.

Dr. William Attaway 7:52

As you're thinking about where you're going from here, I mean, you're you're

Faith And Decision Making Under Stress

Dr. William Attaway 7:55

in college. Now, what are you studying? Uh I'm studying business administration. So, where do you want to go from here? Like what's what's one thing that you see as you're looking ahead, the next mountain you want to climb?

SPEAKER_02 8:08

Well, I would definitely like to hire a team. So right now I work with contractors for certain things that are just easy, easier for me to pass off to them. I would definitely like to hire a team to just be able to better serve my clients and just to just build my business. I mean, additionally, I think I want to build it in here in Arkansas because you know I have clients here locally, but then also several that are out of state. And so really the possibility is, I think, quite endless.

Dr. William Attaway 8:35

As you think about the future of your agency, what is one thing you want most in your business?

SPEAKER_02 8:44

I would say to be able to serve the right customers. Not every customer is meant for your business, and nor do you want every customer. And so just for the right people for us to be able to connect, and that that's what I would say. What is stopping you these days? That's a good question. I would say I would say probably visibility. And so just working on just being more visible, more present.

Dr. William Attaway 9:08

You know, there's there's so many challenges in the marketing space, and a lot of the people listening are struggling

Building The Agency With A Team

Dr. William Attaway 9:14

with a whole lot of different challenges from relationships to client fulfillment to dealing with leading contractors like you are. What are some of the biggest challenges that you're facing right now as an entrepreneur?

SPEAKER_02 9:27

I would say one of the biggest challenges that I'm facing is probably I'm pretty busy. And so oftentimes I feel almost like a ping pong bell going back client to client to client, bouncing back and forth. So that's something I'm struggling with right now. Um, but then also an opportunity that I think is really amazing is AI, but also it kind of presents a struggle in and of itself of just balancing how do you use it? How do you not let AI become your voice? And so while it is a great tool, you know, you have to use it carefully and thoughtfully.

Dr. William Attaway 10:01

As you are building your agency now several years in, you know, more is demanded of you every year than was the year before. So how do you stay on top of your game? How do you level up with the new leadership skills that people like your clients and even the contractors who work with you are going to need you to have in the months and years ahead?

SPEAKER_02 10:25

One of the things is to just be a constant learner. Um and so, you know, whenever I finish college, now I believe that you should be a lifelong learner. And so whether that's from attending conferences or continuing education or doing courses or training, there's tons of ways to be able to learn, or just talking with different people like you and our are doing right now, to just be able to learn and hear from different people

Visibility Busy Seasons And AI

SPEAKER_02 10:48

because different people have different perspectives. But I think that's so key and crucial. But then also just being able to delegate. So a story of that is a few weeks ago, one of, you know, one of my main business services is commercials. But I actually had a company come out and do one for my business instead of me trying to, you know, be behind the camera, but then also in front of the camera at the same time. And so um that company just went so much better than you know I would have thought. They brought fresh ideas, perspectives I wouldn't have thought. And the final product was just absolutely amazing. And so just the

Lifelong Learning And Delegation

SPEAKER_02 11:22

power of delegating and realizing that, you know, as a business owner, you shouldn't have to do everything alone because there truly is so much.

Dr. William Attaway 11:29

You do have so much going on. And if you can learn that skill now, you will be far ahead of many of the people that I work with. I think that's brilliant. Delegation is a superpower. You know, I imagine that you are and have had people who give you advice when it comes to running a business, leading a team, serving clients. At this point, what would you say is the best advice you've ever received?

SPEAKER_02 11:52

I would say the best advice that I've ever received is that you know your customers and then you know your employees are the life of your business and to just really take care of them and to just nurture them because without it, you know, you're not much of anything.

Dr. William Attaway 12:09

You're at the beginning of your journey in a lot of ways. But if you had the ability to go back just a handful of years now and tell yourself something that you didn't know back then, what would you love to go back and tell yourself?

SPEAKER_02 12:23

I would tell myself to be a little bit more patient and that patience is key, and that it will all come in timing. Oftentimes we worry so much about this and that, um, and we try to, you know, we try to do everything ourselves right now. I would say to just be a little bit more patient and to wait and realize that, you know, it's it will all come in time.

Dr. William Attaway 12:41

That's good advice. Is there a book that's made a big difference in your journey that you would recommend to the leaders who are listening?

SPEAKER_02 12:48

I would say, number one, The Bible. It's a wonderful book. But then also How to Win Friends and Influence People, it's a really great book. I would highly encourage anyone to just read that book. It's really amazing.

Dr. William Attaway 13:01

Yeah, as I as I think about what you're doing, you know, one of the things that you had shared is that you've been working on a marketing assessment tool for businesses and

Advice On Customers And Patience

Dr. William Attaway 13:09

for organizations. What is your goal with that? What does that do?

SPEAKER_02 13:12

Yeah. So really my goal with that is just to provide businesses, you know, with a quick assessment and tool to kind of judge where they are with their marketing and to give them just insights, some competitors, what they're doing, things that they should be aware of, and to just really equip them to be able to do some stuff themselves.

Dr. William Attaway 13:31

And this is something that you that you offer for people to take and use this assessment. Correct, it is. And where do they go to do that?

SPEAKER_02 13:40

They would go to my website. You can just visit it at Gatliff Marketing Consultants.com. We'll have that link in the show notes.

Dr. William Attaway 13:48

Landon, uh, you know, a lot of people are looking at your story and listening to this and thinking, wow, man, you know, you're juggling a lot right now. You know, a full-time student running a business full-time, serving clients, leading contractors. That's a lot. You know, and with that comes comes challenges, come issues, come problems. If I had the ability to snap my fingers and solve one problem right now in your business, what would you like that problem to be?

SPEAKER_02 14:19

I would say just to be able to uh

Marketing Assessment Tool For Businesses

SPEAKER_02 14:22

I guess focus more on individual clients and attract higher level clients, and just really pro providing just a value service. And so just being able to serve clients uh with a high value and just to be able to serve them well instead of having to take on just so many clients.

Dr. William Attaway 14:41

You know, Landon, this has been a fascinating conversation to hear what's happened in your story so far. And I can't wait to see where you go from here. I think you're you're just getting started, and I think the sky's the limit. I I know our listeners are going to want to stay connected to you and continue to learn more from you and about what you're doing. What's the best way for them to connect?

SPEAKER_02 15:02

So you can either go um through my website and you can actually book a consultation, or you can follow me on social media. I'm on Facebook and Instagram. It's just Landon Galliff.

Dr. William Attaway 15:13

We'll have that in the show notes. Landon, thanks so much for your time and for what you shared today.

SPEAKER_02 15:18

Absolutely. All right. Thank you so much for having me on. I really do appreciate it.