2026 Is the Best Year to Start an Agency | Office Hours With Mike Cooch

In this Office Hours, Mike Cooch makes the case for why 2026 is the last great window to launch your agency - before the market gets saturated with established HighLevel providers. He breaks down how AI is accelerating at 1,000% per year, why small businesses finally have the capacity they've always lacked, and the massive opportunity ahead for anyone willing to jump in now. Plus, live coaching on escaping $97/month custom work hell and a deep dive into the R6 framework for selling marketing services. 00:00 - Welcome to Office Hours 02:27 - Why 2026 is a massive opportunity for agencies + SMBs 06:34 - “AI is the worst it will ever be” and what that means 10:06 - Advertising today = content marketing with money behind it 13:37 - Relationship Bridge: retargeting with content + offers 16:07 - Video ads, better targeting, and why boosting posts isn’t the move 18:09 - Let content run 30 days (don’t overthink it) 21:08 - Repurposing winners: pause, retitle, and restart 22:06 - Foot-in-the-door offers as Attention Engine fuel 23:54 - Nurture strategy: answer objections with follow-up content 26:40 - AI backlash: “automation/systems” messaging that lands better 30:40 - Start content on day one (even if you’re cold calling) 34:26 - Escaping underpriced custom work: productize + set boundaries 44:41 - No more 9pm calls: request process + paid add-on menu 52:29 - Hire a VA so you can stay focused on revenue 55:14 - Email deliverability: warm-up and slow-roll best practices 57:44 - R6 framework: a simple way to explain and sell marketing 1:12:20 - Final thoughts WHAT IS OFFICE HOURS? Office Hours are free calls for early-stage entrepreneurs—held weekly—with no agenda other than trying to help you with any questions you have about starting or growing your business! Click here to join our free community of thousands of entrepreneurs and register for future Office Hours calls: https://labspecial.com/office-hours WHO IS MIKE COOCH? Mike Cooch has founded successful, seven-figure businesses in technology services, agency services, publishing, and e-commerce (and flopped on a variety of attempts as well…keepin’ it real!). His businesses have been named to the INC Magazine List of Fastest-Growing Companies three years in a row and were also nominated as the Best Places to Work in their respective cities. He has an MBA from Babson College (the #1 ranked entrepreneurship school in the world 25+ years running—go Beavers!), where he has been a regular guest lecturer on the topic of ‘Managing a Rapidly Growing Business’ and a BS in Finance from Colorado State University. He has three children, is an avid skier, hiker and traveler, and is loving life in his adopted hometown of San Diego. His mission is to help other entrepreneurs build businesses that give them more freedom, more money, and more impact. RESOURCES 🟢 To learn more about his thoughts on HighLevel—what Mike believes is the #1 tool for Digital Agencies to use to deliver scalable, profitable services—and get a FREE TRIAL to the software, visit: https://servicesthatscale.com/highlevel 🟢 To learn more about Mike's HUGE HighLevel bonus package, visit https://servicesthatscale.com/highlevelbonus 🟢 To get more information on how to start a digital marketing agency using the Services That Scale strategies, visit https://servicesthatscale.com/start 🟢 To learn the 14 automated, high-margin digital marketing agency services that Mike likes best, visit https://servicesthatscale.com/14services 🟢 To register for FREE Q&A calls with Mike Cooch, join our community at https://labspecial.com/office-hours 🟢 Get FREE access to Mike's course on the 7 key strategies he's used to start and scale Agencies to multiple seven figures in revenue at https://servicesthatscale.com/growfaster STAY IN TOUCH! 🙌 Subscribe to my YouTube Channel! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/getlvrg/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/mcooch Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mike_cooch/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikecooch/ Visit https://servicesthatscale.com for strategies to scale your digital marketing agency, freelance, or consulting business quickly and profitably. Visit https://lvrg.com to discover growth strategies for online lifestyle entrepreneurs who want more freedom, more money, and more impact.