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What if the biggest obstacle to scaling your agency is not your marketing strategy, but your leadership systems?

In this episode of Business Origin Stories, Amy sits down with Dan Newman, founder of Learn to Scale, to talk about the people side of agency growth. Dan works with small marketing agencies to solve communication breakdowns, leadership bottlenecks, and culture issues that quietly damage retention, morale, and client experience.

Dan shares his unconventional path from studying music and philosophy to working in education and eventually corporate learning and development. After spending years observing how successful tech companies built strong teams and scalable systems, he launched Learn to Scale in 2019 with one mission: helping organizations become great places to work.

The conversation digs into the realities many agency founders face as they move from freelancer or practitioner into leadership roles. Dan explains why agencies often become “sweatshops” unintentionally and how founders can avoid repeating the same mistakes they have seen in larger organizations.

Inside this episode:

• The four areas Dan evaluates in his “Talent Culture Audit”
• Why trust matters more than process documentation in small teams
• The founder identity shift from operator to CEO
• How communication problems quietly impact profitability and retention
• Why remote and hybrid agencies struggle with culture
• The role rituals and retrospectives play in healthy team dynamics
• A client story about removing low performers and rebuilding morale
• How founders can ask themselves better questions before hiring more people

Dan also discusses the emotional side of entrepreneurship and why many founders feel isolated while trying to lead growing teams. His perspective blends leadership development, organizational psychology, and practical agency operations into a conversation that is deeply relevant for service-based businesses.

Connect with Dan:

• Website: learntoscale.us
• LinkedIn: Dan Newman

Instagram: 

@amyschutte_

Work with us: www.hudsonandco.co