What if you could grow revenue every year for 18 years — with no employees, no outside investment, and a business that shuts off at 5pm?
Our guest today built exactly that. But it didn’t start that way. He spent the early years of his agency doing 80-hour weeks, arguing with clients over hourly estimates, grinding through projects for people who cared more about the rate than the result.
Around year four, he made one change: he stopped billing for time and started pricing for value. The clients changed. The conversations changed. The hours came down. The revenue went up. And the model he built with his twin brother has now outlasted most of the “scale or die” agencies that launched alongside them.
Welcome to today’s episode of Your Business Growth Podcast. I’m your host, Jeremy Shapiro, author of Your Business Growth Playbook, and my guest today is Joel Miller.
About Joel Miller
Joel Miller is co-founder of The Sky Floor, a boutique marketing agency he has run with his identical twin brother Alan for 18 years — two people, no employees, and consistent revenue growth almost every single year in business.
The Sky Floor works with service businesses: engineering firms, construction contractors, HVAC companies, occupational therapy practices, churches. Joel’s thesis is that most of these businesses don’t have a traffic problem — they have a trust problem. And trust isn’t solved with more spend or a bigger team. It’s solved by getting positioning and pricing right, in that order.
Early in the agency’s history, Joel and Alan were working 80-hour weeks, arguing with clients over hourly estimates, and grinding through projects for people who cared more about the rate than the result. Around year four they made a shift: stop billing for time, start pricing for value. The types of clients changed. The conversations changed. The hours came down. The revenue went up.
Today their average client has been with them for six years. Their longest client relationship is 12 years. They’ve had clients leave for large agencies, have bad experiences, and come back. The Sky Floor itself is the proof of concept: you don’t need headcount to build a valuable, sustainable business. You need the right clients, the right price, and the discipline to say no to both.
Connect with Joel Miller
Speed Round Answers:
- All In Lead Source: Word of mouth and relationships
- Books: Nine Lies About Work by Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall and Million Dollar Weekend by Noah Kagan
- Unlikeliest Mentor: A friend who helped him be who he wanted to become
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Joel Miller Episode Transcript
Coming Soon!
Like This Episode? There’s More!
Subscribe!
Your Business Growth Podcast is available on all major podcast platforms. Subscribe today!
Get the Book!
Pickup the #1 Best Seller, Your Business Growth Playbook today online or at your local bookseller!
Meet Jeremy!
Book your Blueprint Discovery Call with Jeremy today and get back to the growth you deserve!