You know the feeling: money on the table, a client wanting in, and that tiny voice saying, “This one might break us.”
Most founders ignore it. They take the deal. And they pay for it in morale, margin, or both.
In this episode, Roberto Martinez (CEO of Braven Agency) breaks down the moment he stopped taking every client who could pay and started protecting the business he was actually trying to build.
Here’s the reframe:
Most agency pain isn’t from “hard clients.” It’s from misaligned clients you never should’ve onboarded in the first place.
3️⃣ Your mission is a filter, not a slogan.
Roberto shares how turning down misaligned work led to Stanford and Google saying “yes” because his actions matched his values.
2️⃣ Bad contracts can kill you.
Net 180 government deals nearly crushed their cash flow. Sometimes the riskiest work is the work that pays eventually.
1️⃣ Your team will tell you the truth if you’re willing to hear it.
When his ops director said, “For the sanity of the team, let’s not renew this,” Roberto listened. That decision became a cultural pillar.
The Fix (do this week):
• Write down your non-negotiable client filters (mission, margin, behavior).
• Give your team explicit permission to flag bad-fit clients early.
• Review 1–2 current accounts through the lens of: “Would we take this client again today?”
Catch the full episode on Apple | LISTEN HERE | Spotify | LISTEN HERE |
I launched a free 5 day email course for agency owners: The 5 mistakes keeping your agency stuck, and the 5 Custom GPTs that solve them. Get it free at:
THE AGENCY LEVERAGE BLUEPRINT
– Sean
P.S. Roberto shares the wild contract term that almost sank them—worth hearing.