You’re On Your Own — A Simple Guide to Starting Your Own Agency

A simple guide to starting your own agency

From Employee to Agency Owner: Your 10-Chapter Roadmap

A 90-minute roadmap for finding clients, pricing your work, hiring smart, and avoiding the mistakes that kill most agencies in year one.

20 years of agency experience taught in 10 actionable chapters.

Buy the PDF — $4.99

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Mark Nichols

You’re On
Your Own

A Simple Guide to Starting
Your Own Agency

About Mark Nichols

The agency coach who wrote the field guide he wished founders had sooner.

Hi, I’m Mark. For two decades, I’ve lived and breathed consulting life — from early days at Metalab to senior roles across sales, account management, and operations.

Nowadays, I help digital agency owners grow through Tamaribuchi. This book distills the most practical parts of my experience into something you can read quickly and use immediately.

What’s inside

What you’ll learn

Getting your agency off the ground

Set a vision, stand out among competitors, and win the first clients without building a fragile fantasy business.

Running a world-class consultancy on day one

Run a pro consultancy on day one

Learn the day-to-day habits behind selling, charging for work, and running exceptional projects for clients.

Growing comfortably and sustainably

Grow comfortably and sustainably

Get past the initial hurdles… then think big. Learn about hiring, growing accounts, and running a team that sticks with you.

Think big. Learn about hiring, growing accounts, and running a team that sticks with you through it all.

Proof

A trusted resource for 1000+ owners

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It’s rare to find something that’s both simple and actually useful. I read You’re On Your Own over lunch, and by that evening I was already applying the advice.

Kelly Browning
Head of Retail Business Development

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If you run a services business, or are thinking about starting one, you should buy this book.

Andrew Wilkinson
Co-Founder, Tiny

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I wish I’d had this book when I started my agency 25 years ago. This guide will help any new agency founder find success faster.

Brian Williams
Co-Founder & CEO, Viget

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Starting a business on your own can feel overwhelming, but this ebook breaks it down in a way that feels doable, even energizing.

Amber Larsen
People & Culture Advisor

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This book has some vitally important truths that had I known earlier, would have helped me to fail faster and sculpt the real outlook I wanted for myself and my career.

If you're just starting out, your ego will not allow you to absorb everything in this book that you could or should, but even the one or two nuggets that you leave with will be invaluable.

Adam Williams
Web Designer & Developer, Infinite Designs

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I read this book twice over in a few days and immediately handed it to my co-founder to read. It feels like a friend who genuinely cares is giving you their best advice. The only 'downside' was that I highlighted half the book and earmarked so many of the pages to come back to. I'd recommend this for anyone running an agency or considering doing so.

Dylan Deppiesse

Co-Founder, BuildMetrics

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One of the most important books I have read this year.

Lukas Spitaler

Founder & Creative Director, Foci Studio

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The book definitely helped me think critically about my agency, how to scale it, what I'm doing right, and what I'm doing wrong. I highly recommend it.

Shane Levine

Co-Founder, Turbo