The blog
Inside the Black Box.
Eleven parts on the agency business model that rents you your own assets, reports what it wants you to see, and disappears after the sale — with the checks, the math, and the way out. No email walls; the whole series is just here.
Part 1 · 5 minThe report looked great. Where are the jobs?Your agency's monthly report is full of green arrows. Here's how to read it, what's missing, and the one number it should contain but doesn't.Part 2 · 6 minWho owns your Google Ads account? (Check in 60 seconds.)Admin access is not ownership. Four checks — Google Ads, Business Profile, Local Services Ads, your website — that tell you what goes dark if you fire your agency today.Part 3 · 6 minThe rented websiteIf you stop paying and the site goes dark, it was never yours. How to read the "platform" clause in your agency contract, what leaving really costs, and the four things you must hold.Part 4 · 6 minThree moves, every verticalThe Black Box isn't a company. It's a business model with three moves — rent, obscure, disappear — and it looks the same whether you run an HVAC company, a law firm, or a Shopify store.Part 5 · 5 minThe lead you paid for three timesLead marketplaces sell the same homeowner to three contractors, count every one as a "lead," and charge all three. The math on resold leads, what the FTC found, and the three questions that tell you whether you're buying leads or renting a phone number.Part 6 · 6 minSpeed-to-lead: the number your agency never reportsHow fast a lead reaches a human decides more jobs than your ad budget does. Why it never shows up in the report, what Google does with your response time, and how to measure yours this week.Part 7 · 5 minOne number: cost per booked jobWhat a real marketing report contains: one number at the top, the five rows that produce it, and how to build it from data you already have. With a worked month.Part 8 · 6 min4× ROAS and break-even: the ecommerce Black BoxMeta says 4.1× ROAS. Google says 3.8×. The bank account says break-even. Why the platforms both claim the same order, what ROAS leaves out, and the one number a Shopify store should run on instead.Part 9 · 5 minWhat it's like when the lid is offEight posts on the Black Box. This one is the other side: a month with your accounts in your name, one number at the top of the report, a changelog of every change, and a price that doesn't move. Composite, not a testimonial.Part 10 · 5 minThe account manager with forty clients"Ghosted after signing" is the complaint owners make most. It isn't a personality problem. It's arithmetic: retainer ÷ headcount. How to calculate your agency's attention, the reply-time test, and what to ask before month six.Part 11 · 6 minHow to leave without going darkA 30-day plan for leaving an agency — or a lead seller — while keeping every account, your rankings, your phone number, and your data. What to do before giving notice, in what order, and the two mistakes that cost owners months.
Rather check your own setup?
The Leak Check asks the series' three questions about your accounts. Ninety seconds, no email.