⚡️ Columbus Marketing Jobs Newsletter: https://www.columbusmarketingjobs.com/

📄 The B2B Healthcare Website Breakdown: https://www.report.mmg.studio

I sat down as the guest on The Marketers Exit with Tas Bober and Tim Davidson, and we're bringing the full conversation over to Marketing by Design. I get into the real story behind MMG Design, the February 2024 layoff that started it all, the local networking grind that built 70% of my referral business, and how I went from a $1,200 client to a $200K studio in two years without a niche for the first year. We also get into the YouTube discipline of posting my monthly P&L for 26 straight months, why I waited too long to specialize in Webflow and healthcare, and what I'd actually tell someone thinking about going solo.

CONNECT WITH TAS & TIM (The Marketers Exit)

🎙 Podcast: https://themarketersexit.com/

🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheMarketersExit

💼 Tas Bober, The Scroll Lab: https://thescrolllab.com/

💼 Tim Davidson, B2B Rizz: https://b2brizz.com/

CONNECT WITH ANDY

🌐 Website: https://www.mmgdesign.net/

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindfulmilligan/

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

04:26 - I Got Catfished By a Co-Working Space

09:13 - Why I Never Looked For Another Job

11:30 - My First Client Paid Me $1,200

13:47 - Why I Post My P&L Every Month

16:02 - 439 YouTube Videos and Counting

20:44 - The Videos With 3 Views Still Mattered

22:40 - Why I Ignore Every Bad Comment

25:02 - No Safety Net, No Plan B

27:18 - The 7:30 AM Networking Grind

32:04 - Why I Waited Too Long to Niche

34:15 - My Actual Offer Breakdown

38:54 - The Project That Made a Client Cry

41:12 - $40K to $200K in One Year

53:00 - Would I Ever Sell MMG?

57:37 - The Most Overrated Advice I Got

59:35 - Advice vs. Experience, Know the Difference

1:00:01 - What My Parents Think I Do

TEAM

🎙 Host // Andy Milligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

🎥 Production // MMG Design: https://www.mmgdesign.net/

🤝 Powered by // AMA Columbus: https://amacolumbus.org and our friends at COHATCH (Get 2 free weeks of premium coworking, on us) https://www.cohatch.com/mbd

⚡️ Start Your Website Redesign Here: https://www.mmg.studio/visualswipefile

Motion design founder Matt Vojacek returns to Marketing by Design to unpack what actually separates memorable creative from forgettable work now that AI can get anyone to "average" in minutes. We dig into why he built Made by Things around story instead of software, the difference between creating and curating, and how the entire quality bar is shifting under marketers' feet. He also breaks down a sales philosophy that has nothing to do with cold calls and everything to do with being a real person over a long horizon. If you market a B2B brand and you're worried about blending in, this gives you a sharper way to think about standing out.

CONNECT WITH MATT

🌐 Website: https://www.madebythings.com

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattvojacek/

📚 Book (The Business of Making Things): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GVBK9KVC

🎟 Making Midwest: https://www.makingmidwest.com

CONNECT WITH ANDY

🌐 Website: https://www.mmgdesign.net/

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindfulmilligan/

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

02:10 - The book he swore he'd never write

09:30 - "I wanted to make something real"

13:15 - How a dinner for 8 became a Columbus conference

22:40 - The first question every creative asks him

27:05 - The number he hit, and why it felt empty

34:20 - What AI actually changed (and what it didn't)

38:50 - Creating vs curating

44:30 - "AI makes everyone average"

49:15 - Sales is just making friends at scale

54:40 - Seven figures in a backwards hat

TEAM

🎙 Host // Andy Milligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

🎥 Production // MMG Design: https://www.mmgdesign.net/

🤝 Powered by // AMA Columbus: https://amacolumbus.org and our friends at COHATCH (Get 2 free weeks of premium coworking, on us) https://www.cohatch.com/mbd

⚡️ High-Converting Websites Visual Swipe File: https://www.mmg.studio/visualswipefile

Alexander Ferguson, co-founder and CMO of TeraLeap, has helped over 170 B2B brands turn happy customers into video testimonials that close deals faster. In this conversation, Andy and Alexander get into why AI-generated websites all start to look the same, why traffic to B2B sites has dropped sharply, and what actually earns a buyer's trust in the first few seconds. You'll walk away knowing exactly where to place social proof, how to structure FAQs for conversion, and why differentiation is the only thing that wins when everyone can ship a "good enough" site.

CONNECT WITH ALEXANDER

🌐 Website: https://teraleap.io

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexferguson/

🎙 Podcast: UpTech Report

CONNECT WITH ANDY

🌐 Website: https://www.mmg.studio/

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindfulmilligan/

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

01:16 - The $10M agency that never ran an ad

03:52 - How one meetup became a whale client

08:15 - Turning "be a good person" into a system

11:45 - Why B2B site traffic dropped 60%

15:11 - The "AI look" that kills trust

17:23 - FAQs are a conversion tool, not a dumping ground

23:08 - The testimonials page mistake almost everyone makes

27:17 - Why real video proof can't be faked

39:29 - The one word that wins deals in 18 months

TEAM

🎙 Host // Andy Milligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

🎥 Production // MMG Design: https://www.mmg.studio/

🤝 Powered by // AMA Columbus: https://amacolumbus.org and our friends at COHATCH (Get 2 free weeks of premium coworking, on us) https://www.cohatch.com/mbd

TEAM

🎙 Host // Andy Milligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

🎥 Production // MMG Design: https://www.mmgdesign.net

⚡️ Columbus Marketing Jobs: the best curated marketing roles in Columbus, freelance, fractional, and in house, free to your inbox every Monday: https://www.columbusmarketingjobs.com

In this solo voice memo, I step away from the guest interviews to bring you behind the scenes of the business and my personal life. I get into buying my first house in my 20s, the burnout that came with it, and the mindset shifts that reset how I define success, freedom, and leverage. You will walk away with practical takeaways on building a compounding network, reducing time to value after a client pays, finding your advantage in an AI driven market, and choosing clarity over certainty.

CONNECT WITH ANDY

🌐 Website: https://www.mmgdesign.net/

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindfulmilligan/

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

02:00 - 12 house visits and total burnout

04:53 - The success milestone that wasn't

07:15 - The DoorDash mom that humbled me

09:34 - The freedom most people get wrong

11:56 - Relationships compound like money

14:14 - The no ask outreach habit that opens doors

15:30 - Why I paid for objectivity on my business

18:55 - The 48 hour window you are wasting

21:14 - Clarity beats certainty, plus 75 Hard

TEAM

🎙 Host // Andy Milligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

🎥 Production // MMG Design: https://www.mmgdesign.net/

🤝 Powered by // AMA Columbus: https://amacolumbus.org and our friends at COHATCH (get 2 free weeks of premium coworking, on us): https://www.cohatch.com/mbd

⚡️ How is your website appearing in AI Search: https://www.mmg.studio/contact#services-form

In this episode, we’re walking through the complete six-phase B2B SEO playbook that MMG Studio runs for every client, using a real healthcare client as the live example.

From technical audits and keyword research to schema markup, content architecture, Webflow CMS publishing, and authority building, this is an unfiltered look at the full process from start to finish.

Whether you're optimizing an existing site or launching something new, you'll walk away with a repeatable system you can put to work immediately.

CONNECT WITH ANDY

🌐 Website: https://www.mmgdesign.net/

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindfulmilligan/

TEAM

🎙 Host // Andy Milligan:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

🎥 Production // MMG Design:
https://www.mmgdesign.net/

🤝 Powered by // AMA Columbus:
https://amacolumbus.org

and our friends at COHATCH (Get 2 free weeks of premium coworking, on us)
https://www.cohatch.com/mbd

⚡️ See how your brand appears in AI search: https://www.mmg.studio

Ryan Hawk has had nearly 700 conversations with world-class leaders over the past 11 years. Tony Robbins. Admiral McRaven. James Clear. Jocko Willink. And he's distilled everything he's learned into his new book, "The Price of Becoming: The Compounding Practices of High Performance," dropping in July 2026.

But here's what stands out: Ryan doesn't just interview people and move on. He's built The Learning Leader Show into one of the top business podcasts globally. He left corporate America and created a business with zero contracts and no advance payments. He speaks on major stages. And through the Learning Leader Masterminds and coaching, he works directly with leadership teams at some of the world's most impactful companies.

In this conversation, we dig into the core of his book and the philosophy that shapes everything he does. We talk about the Ben Roethlisberger moment that changed his life at 19. We explore why the gap between effort and reward is one of the hardest pills to swallow. And we break down how to actually become valuable in a world that only cares about value creation, not how hard you worked.

This is about consistency. Compounding. And understanding that confidence needs evidence.

CONNECT WITH RYAN

🌐 Website: https://www.thelearnerleader.com

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanhawk/

CONNECT WITH ANDY

🌐 Website: https://www.mmgdesign.net/

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindfulmilligan/

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

03:45 - The Ski Trip and Gen Z Lingo

08:30 - Dr. Daniel Modaff and Dr. J.W. Smith

12:15 - The Ben Roethlisberger Story

19:40 - The Gap Between Effort and Reward

26:40 - Environment and High Performers

38:10 - Learn, Work, Lead Framework

44:55 - Imitate Then Innovate

49:10 - Morgan Freeman's 30-Year Apprenticeship

55:50 - The Sales Mindset

01:00:00 - Who This Book Is For

TEAM

🎙 Host // Andy Milligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

🎥 Production // MMG Design: https://www.mmgdesign.net/

🤝 Powered by // AMA Columbus: https://amacolumbus.org

🤝 Partner // COhatch: https://www.cohatch.com/mbd (Get 2 free weeks of premium coworking)

⚡️ Columbus Marketing Jobs Newsletter:
https://www.columbusmarketingjobs.com

Danielle Walton co-founded Adept Marketing in Columbus, Ohio, scaled it to 40+ employees, landed on the Inc 5000, and sold it to a global performance commerce agency in 2022. In this episode, she breaks down exactly how she and her business partner built something a buyer actually wanted, where the gaps were, and what she'd do differently.

We also get into why Columbus gave Adept an edge that no other market could have replicated, and what she's building now with LGS Consultants and a growing dental group.

CONNECT WITH DANIELLE

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-walton-a6205720/

CONNECT WITH ANDY

🌐 Website: https://www.mmgdesign.net/
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindfulmilligan/

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Introduction to Business Acquisition and Consulting
02:47 - Career Trajectory and Entrepreneurial Roots
05:54 - Identifying Market Trends and Business Strategy
09:11 - Narrowing Focus: The Shift to Digital Marketing
11:57 - Building a Business for Acquisition
14:50 - Misconceptions About the Acquisition Process
24:41 - Misconceptions in Entrepreneurship
30:10 - Building a Business in Columbus
34:52 - Transitioning to New Ventures
39:14 - Coaching and Leadership Insights
40:12 - Implementing the Entrepreneurial Operating System

TEAM

🎙 Host // Andy Milligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/
🎥 Production // MMG Design: https://www.mmgdesign.net/
🤝 Powered by // AMA Columbus: https://amacolumbus.org and our friends at COhatch (Get 2 free weeks of premium coworking, on us) https://www.cohatch.com/mbd

⚡️ Columbus Marketing Jobs Newsletter: The best marketing jobs in Columbus delivered to your inbox every Monday. Freelance, fractional, in-house. Totally free. https://www.columbusmarketingjobs.com/

This week, Andy pulls back the curtain on his marketing studio with the full January 2026 monthly retro. He walks through revenue, contractor costs, the new MMG rebrand, two LinkedIn posts that popped off, and the websites his team shipped. If you run a marketing business or a freelance practice and want to see how someone else thinks about finances, hiring, and accountability, this episode is the inside look most agency owners will never show you.

CONNECT WITH ANDY

🌐 Website: https://www.mmgdesign.net/

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindfulmilligan/

📬 Columbus Marketing Jobs: https://www.columbusmarketingjobs.com/

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

01:30 - I Show My Numbers Every Month

02:30 - $28,818. Here's Where It Came From.

04:15 - The Diagram That Runs My Business

06:30 - Why Contractors Cost Me $4K

09:00 - Why I Stopped Saying "Expenses"

11:00 - We Moved Into a Real Studio

12:45 - Florida On Spirit Airlines

14:30 - The MMG Rebrand Is Real

17:00 - Two LinkedIn Posts That Hit

19:30 - The Websites We Launched in January

22:30 - The Things I Need To Own

25:00 - What I Said I'd Do in January

27:00 - My February Marching Orders

TEAM

🎙 Host // Andy Milligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

🎥 Production // MMG Design: https://www.mmgdesign.net/

🤝 Powered by // AMA Columbus: https://amacolumbus.org and our friends at COHATCH (Get 2 free weeks of premium coworking, on us) https://www.cohatch.com/mbd