197: How We Grew 50% Without Hiring a Single Person – Pat Dillon – 8FE

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Patrick Dillon
Patrick Dillon is the founder and CEO of WISE Digital, a digital marketing agency. A successful entrepreneur for two decades and the founder of more than ten companies, Patrick has personally consulted with more than 5,000 business owners on their marketing strategies.

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What happens when you’ve built multiple companies, lost control, got burned by partners, and then finally get it right?

Patrick Dillon has done it all. He’s built several digital agencies, and even a janitorial company. He’s taken on investors, lost equity, made painful pivots, and come out the other side with a lean, wildly profitable agency. Today, his company, WISE Digital, is scaling steadily without the risk of it all collapsing from one bad client, partner, or decision.

In this episode, we break down how Pat used AI to scale without bloat, what really went wrong with his first three ventures, and why he’ll never niche down again. We also get into the recruiting system that saved him thousands of hours, the legal dispute ChatGPT helped him settle, and how to avoid toxic positivity while building something that actually lasts.

If you’re in agency life, you’ll feel this one.

Listen in and find out what it really takes to build a growth engine you actually want to run.

Inspiring Quotes

  • “You could have the best website on the planet. If you don’t have your directories in order, you will not get full credit for being in business.” – Patrick Dillon 
  • “Never have more than 5% of our revenue associated with one client.” – Patrick Dillon 
  • “Growth is easy. But if you’re growing 10% on the top line, but also growing 10% in expenses because you’re adding 10% more team members for every 10% more clients, you’ll never get to where you want to be.” – Patrick Dillon 
  • “I’ve never had to advertise. I don’t worry about growth. It comes naturally.” – Patrick Dillon 
  • “Shit is going to go wrong. If you’re not ready for that, don’t start a business.” – Patrick Dillon
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