How to Build a Steady Business

Ange Dove (00:01)
Welcome to You’re the Boss Podcast Show. Today I have a wonderful guest with me—Benas Leonavicius. Did I get that right?

Benas Leonavicius (00:10)
Yeah, that’s perfect.

Ange Dove (00:14)
Fantastic. Welcome to the show—it’s great to have you here.
So Benas, tell us a bit about yourself—who you are and what you do.

Benas Leonavicius (00:23)
Thanks for having me. I’ve been freelancing for over 10 years, mainly as a search engine optimization (SEO) specialist.

Recently, I’ve started transitioning into building my own agency.

Over the years, I managed to break out of the typical feast-and-famine cycle of freelancing. Right now, I’m earning over $100,000 per year as a solo freelancer—but I’ve reached a ceiling. So the next step is scaling through an agency.

Ange Dove (01:13)
So you’ll be leveraging other people as well—bringing in a team?

Benas Leonavicius (01:17)
Exactly. But it’s not just about hiring—it’s about structure.

I want more organization, more automation, and clear systems. Honestly, 60–70% of building an agency is about putting the right processes in place—understanding sales, client management, and delivery.

Then, once that’s clear, bringing in people becomes much easier.

Ange Dove (02:07)
I love hearing that—I’m a bit of a systems geek myself.

Every business should have systems and SOPs in place. When you bring in staff, they need clear instructions—what to do, how to do it, and where they’re going.

Otherwise, they get lost. And if something goes wrong, you should always look at the system before blaming the person.

Benas Leonavicius (02:47)
Exactly. One of the best pieces of advice I heard was that most people hire the wrong first person.

If you’re an SEO specialist, you might think, “I’ll hire another SEO.” But that’s actually a mistake—because you’re bringing someone into chaos.

Instead, I hired a digital business manager. Their job is to take everything in my head and turn it into structured systems—CRMs, processes, documentation.

Before scaling client work, I needed to organize the business.

Ange Dove (03:50)
That’s such a smart move—and it will absolutely pay off long-term.

Benas Leonavicius (04:08)
I hope so. It’s interesting because right now it doesn’t feel like much is happening. There’s doubt—but I trust the process.

Ange Dove (04:26)
It is the right approach.

From my experience running an agency—once systems are in place, everything becomes easier. If someone is off, someone else can step in.

And when mistakes happen, you improve the system—not blame the person.

Ange Dove (05:17)
For example, we once had a quoting mistake that cost us money.

Instead of blaming the staff member, we fixed the system—adding a second check for third-party quotes.

Simple change, huge impact.

Benas Leonavicius (08:13)
That’s a great example. The solution is simple—but the savings can be massive.

Ange Dove (08:23)
Exactly. And systems are always evolving—it’s never “done.”

Benas Leonavicius (08:42)

Absolutely. Even as a freelancer, my systems evolved constantly.

Right now is the hardest part—building everything from scratch—but it will get easier over time.

Ange Dove (09:11)
Let’s go back a bit—before freelancing, what were you doing?

Benas Leonavicius (09:32)
Honestly, not much. I always knew I wanted to run my own business—my father was a businessman.

My plan was to go to university, work at big companies like Google or Apple, then maybe start something later.

But freelancing started as a side hustle during university—and it grew.

Benas Leonavicius (11:26)
After graduating, I got a job at a marketing agency—but I was fired within two months.

At the time, I was frustrated. But looking back, it was the best thing that could have happened.

That pushed me to go all-in on freelancing—and within a year, I was earning three times more than that job.

Ange Dove (14:49)
It’s funny how those moments feel like disasters at the time—but later you realise they were actually opportunities.

Benas Leonavicius (15:06)
Exactly. Like Steve Jobs said—you can’t connect the dots looking forward, only looking backward.

Ange Dove (16:20)
Let’s talk about the feast-and-famine cycle—how did you break out of it?

Benas Leonavicius (16:37)
I made every freelancing mistake possible.

At first, I worked long hours for a few clients—which meant no time to find new clients. When projects ended, income dropped.

To fix that, I changed two things:

1. The type of clients I worked with

2. The services I offered
   
   

Benas Leonavicius (19:26)
Instead of complex projects, I focused on clients where I could deliver strong results with less time—like keynote speakers and authors.

That allowed me to work with more clients simultaneously.

Benas Leonavicius (21:18)
Then I focused on referrals.

Certain niches—like keynote speakers—are highly connected and not directly competitive, so they refer each other easily.

That became a major growth driver for my business.

Ange Dove (25:45)
So you:

• Simplified your service

• Chose the right niche

• Built systems

• Leveraged referrals

That’s a powerful combination.

Benas Leonavicius (26:19)
Exactly—and I also moved to long-term retainers instead of one-off projects.

That created predictable income and removed the constant need to find new clients.

Ange Dove (29:15)
Yes—you need a consistent pipeline as well.

Benas Leonavicius
Exactly. Referrals are great, but you also need systems you can control.

Ange Dove (33:09)
Let’s simplify SEO for listeners—what is it?

Benas Leonavicius (33:33)
SEO is about helping your website appear in search results.

When someone searches on Google, SEO determines which websites appear organically.

The goal is to optimize your site so it ranks higher—and attracts more customers.

Ange Dove (34:44)
How is AI changing that?

Benas Leonavicius (40:03)
AI hasn’t replaced SEO—but it’s changing it.

We’re moving from keyword-based strategies to brand presence.

The more your name appears across platforms—podcasts, articles, social media—the more likely AI tools will reference you.

Ange Dove (48:16)
So it’s not just content—it’s visibility and credibility.

Benas Leonavicius (49:22)
Exactly. Personal branding is becoming critical.

People will trust real humans over generic AI content.

Ange Dove (50:07)
I agree—the human element is becoming more valuable again.

Benas Leonavicius (50:46)
AI is a tool—not a replacement.

People still crave human connection.

Ange Dove (52:28)
It’s been such a great conversation. Where can people find you?

Benas Leonavicius (52:28)
My YouTube channel is the best place—I document my freelancing and agency journey there.

Ange Dove (52:41)
Perfect—I’ll link that.

Thank you so much for joining me today.

Benas Leonavicius (52:59)
Thank you—it was great to be here.