Jesse P. Gilmore is the Founder of Niche in Control, LLC., an Oregon-based company that provides business consulting services to marketing agency owners to transition from hustling to being the CEO of their agency and effectively scale from 6 to 7-figures without burning out.
Since 2019, Niche in Control has transformed the lives of 20+ agency owners to have an agency that can sustain and grow without their direct involvement. Case studies of scaling from $15k/month to over $100k/month in less than 12 months.
If you are a 6-figure marketing agency owner looking to scale to 7-figures, more information on Niche in Control can be found here.
Here we sit down with Jesse, to know a bit more about his journey as an agency growth advisor.
Q. WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO BECOME AN ENTREPRENEUR?
Jesse: Ever since I can remember, I have always viewed the businesses that I worked for as being mediocre. Many of them said they were the best but when it came down to it, they all seemed the exact same. Everything was carbon copied and the value propositions for most of the companies seemed like something was missing.
In the majority of the jobs I had before becoming an entrepreneur, I learned what they were doing and quickly became a high performer and wanted to change their system with better training or processes.
After having a dozen jobs before the age of 20, I decided to start my venture with my brother, Jeremy, promoting the arts and culture of Minnesota through a web information services business called The North Coast Collective, Inc.
We built the company from the ground up and fell in love with the idea of our business. It took us a long time to generate proof of concept and we worked really hard to make the business work.
We embedded ourselves in our work and when something needed to be done, we just dug in deep to complete it. The problem was that there was never an end.
The next day, there was always more work to complete in order for our service to be provided.
We were so entrenched in our business that we couldn’t effectively delegate to others.
We had built a business around our skills and the more successful we were, the more hours we had to put into it.
This cycle continued for 5 years until we burnt out and dissolved the business.
There was something missing but I didn’t know what it was. I went on to start a photography business and then later, a nonprofit organization.
Both of those businesses had something missing as well. If I didn’t work, nothing got done.
Then I took a job as a professional project manager for a $4 billion specialty manufacturer. I worked under the VP of HR and executed strategic initiatives for 5 years. During this time, I learned what allowed corporations to keep the same quality of service even when the people doing the work come and go.
Creating business systems was the key that I had been missing all along.
During my years as a professional project manager, I used business systems to create, develop and scale four 15-25+ person project teams, impacting over 1,200 employees at a 4 billion dollar corporation.
Even in corporate America, I always knew that I would become an entrepreneur again as it is a soul purpose of mine. Entrepreneurship seems to stick with me no matter what.
Q. HOW DID YOU GET STARTED?
Jesse: After success in corporate America, I realized the need to help others to avoid the burnout of entrepreneurship.
I founded Niche in Control to help others create scalability and for business owners to truly live the life of entrepreneurship without burning out while scaling.
Niche in Control first started working with B2B SaaS companies but I realized that the systems I helped build were best at services, rather than products.
I spent months documenting all that I learned as a serial entrepreneur, training and development manager, and professional project manager, so that I could creatively problem-solve for clients to remove operational bottlenecks and transition into the CEO role efficiently.
When I started working with marketing agency owners, I realized that it was a perfect match. One of my first clients quickly went from $15k/month to over $100k/month in less than 12 months. Once that happened, I went all-in with serving marketing agency owners specifically.
Q. WHAT WAS YOUR BIGGEST STARTUP CHALLENGE? WHAT STEPS DID YOU TAKE TO OVERCOME IT? WHAT DID YOU LEARN?
Jesse: The biggest challenge while starting up is that the agency space is overcrowded with people promising the world but not delivering on it.
Skepticism is high with marketing agency owners as they know all the tricks.
I found out very early that the key to breaking through the skepticism with agency owners is by showing results.
For the early clients that I had (and for all of my clients), my goal is to get them a return on investment in less than 3 months.
By leading with value and tangible results, I have been able to overcome the skepticism within the agency space.
It is difficult to stay skeptical when a client of mine goes from $15k/month to $100k+/month in less than 12 months.
I learned that in order for me to stand out in the crowded space, I needed to be results-driven and share the case studies of my successful clients.
Q. WHAT IS THE MOST MEMORABLE THING YOU’VE DONE SINCE YOU STARTED YOUR BUSINESS?
Jesse: While there are many memorable things that have been done with clients of Niche in Control, the most memorable was hitting the $100k/month mark with my client, Warren.
Warren, Co-Founder of Ollo Metrics
Digital Marketing Agency specializing in Paid Ads and Analytics
Went from $15k/month to over $100k/month in less than 12 months (from 2020 to 2021)
Warren had a vision of an agency that connected with and grew businesses that did good work in the communities. He had new clients coming in but everything was in his and his partner’s heads. They needed to create scalability in order to grow and meet the increasing demand.
Warren met Jesse and Jesse helped them develop the systems needed to increase capacity and efficiently scale.
They went from a team of 1 employee to a team of 8 employees within the year and haven’t slowed down since.
Accomplishing that goal has been amazing and now we have multiple clients on the same track.
Q. WHAT IS ONE BOOK YOU RECOMMEND, AND WHY?
Mastery by Robert Greene.
This book allowed me to view work and progress differently than I had before. The book allows you to view the progress you are making in life and business as part of the journey towards mastery.
When the principles of the book are applied, it becomes clear where you are and how to get to the next level of mastery and self-actualization.
Q. IN TERMS OF LEGACY, WHAT IS THE MARK YOU’D LIKE TO LEAVE ON THE WORLD?
Jesse: Legacy for me is based on both personal and business impact.
Legacy is created through the impact and example that I show to my kids. How I show up as a dad. How I interact and communicate to my wife. How I interact and communicate with my clients.
My legacy will live on through how I show up in life and through the impact I have on others. In addition to this legacy, I will set up Niche in Control to live on beyond me and continue to serve business owners in powerful ways for decades to come.
Q. IN ONE SENTENCE, WHAT’S THE BEST ADVICE YOU’D GIVE TO SOMEONE JUST STARTING OUT ON THEIR ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNEY?
Jesse: Test your commitment to entrepreneurship. Make sure you aren’t just interested in entrepreneurship. If you are interested but not committed, you will hate it. There are a lot of jobs that require less effort and are better suited. You can test your interest by having the business as a side business.
If you are 110% committed to entrepreneurship, then I would suggest investing in a coach or consultant to get you to the next level and shortcut years (if not decades) of trial and error.
It is worth the investment as long as you are committed and they specialize in specifically helping people like you to do what you specifically want to do and have the track record of results to prove it.
To keep up to date with Jesse and his journey, connect with him on LinkedIn.
