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Melissa Bouma

Things Melissa Says on Podcasts

Where to Find Them

Melissa Bouma has been a guest on Smart Agency Masterclass with Jason Swenk: Podcast for Digital Marketing Agencies .

Recently: “From Agency CEO to Chief Growth Officer: Navigating Life After the Sale with Melissa Bouma | Ep #938” on Smart Agency Masterclass with Jason Swenk: Podcast for Digital Marketing Agencies (November 2026).

What They Said

“I probably need to be a little less precious about bringing my established thinking and ways of working. We must behave this way. We must sound this way. You have to let that go, because it impedes evolution.” — Melissa Bouma, Smart Agency Masterclass with Jason Swenk: Podcast for Digital Marketing Agencies

Melissa Bouma on what owners get wrong after a merger. Attachment to how things were done can block the value the deal was meant to create.

Smart Agency Masterclass with Jason Swenk: Podcast for Digital Marketing Agencies · 2026-11-11 Permalink → Listen →
Smart Agency Masterclass with Jason Swenk: Podcast for Digital Marketing Agencies Around 14:13 into the episode
Melissa Bouma

Yeah. I hear you and I agree. I also think that you can define the role ahead of it, but that still doesn't necessarily change, you know, what it's going to feel like when you get on the other side of it. So to break, you ask, break it down a little bit. Yeah, talk

Jason Swenk

more about kind of what you're meaning about right, like focus on the outcome and that kind of stuff.

Melissa Bouma

Yeah. You know, I think as an owner, you think about the growth trajectory for the business, which I think is very important. I think as an owner operator, like you're saying, you start thinking about what does integration look like? What does it feel like? What happens to me? What happens to the team? What happens to ways of working or established brands? And I think that's probably where people are the most fearful is just in the unknown of what's on the other side of it. And I think that's more what I was alluding to when I said to be open. It's the integration piece of it and knowing that more often than not, and you know this because you sold, if you're bringing a good either product team. Or capability, or whatever it is that you're bringing, putting the two together is going to create added value. And I think one of the things actually, as I'm saying this, that I would say that you asked, what would you do different? I probably need to be a little less precious about bringing my…

Jason Swenk

Agency owners, is it scary when you sign a new client? Do you know how you'll actually get that work done? If you've ever worried about bringing on a new client because it means finding an unreliable contractor or making a new expensive hire, you need to know about E2M. Now, E2M has been helping…

Melissa Bouma

Right. Like,

Jason Swenk

I have to, but you know, the older I get now is just like, I'm like, I just don't care anymore. But like, when I was like kind of in that mentality, like, oh, like when I thinking back when I sold, I was like, oh, yeah, I'm still in control. No.

Speaker names come from our own diarization. The position is estimated from where the line sits in the episode.
“One of the things that made it work best for us is it was something people wanted to buy, not build. So that was an opportunity for us to be acquired as the air-quotes digital arm.” — Melissa Bouma, Smart Agency Masterclass with Jason Swenk: Podcast for Digital Marketing Agencies

Melissa Bouma on her first agency sale. SEO was seen as a silver bullet at the time, and bigger agencies preferred buying that capability to building it.

Smart Agency Masterclass with Jason Swenk: Podcast for Digital Marketing Agencies · 2026-11-11 Permalink → Listen →
Smart Agency Masterclass with Jason Swenk: Podcast for Digital Marketing Agencies Around 06:53 into the episode
Melissa Bouma

So we did that for about four and a half, five years until we sold. And then we sold into a pretty large content agency because searching content even back then was very that's a really

Jason Swenk

quick that's a quick path for a lot of people so you know walk me through kind of some of the phases that you guys went through

Melissa Bouma

yeah so it was a quick path and i think it had a lot to do with where seo was in the course of digital marketing and just how quickly it was becoming you know the silver bullet that was going to move your business um really one of the things that made it work best for us is it was something that people wanted to buy not build so that was an opportunity for us to be acquired as the air quotes digital arm even though there's much more to digital than that um you know the path was i wish it was incredibly structured that i could give you a framework but it wasn't it was figure out what our approach and methodology was for me it was figuring out how to explain seo to business owners in a way that made sense for them uh without making it too complex but also not dumbing it down too far because we wanted them to engage us and then it was figuring out how to scale sales and a lot of that had to do truly with word of mouth i wish it was like a big architected growth…

Jason Swenk

so it was an existing partnership or client that bought you

Melissa Bouma

yeah we well they it was a larger agency that is now what is manifest it was named something different at the time uh that was white labeling their seo services

Jason Swenk

yeah i always tell everybody when if the goal is eventually selling a lot of times you already know the potential buyer

Speaker names come from our own diarization. The position is estimated from where the line sits in the episode.
“We're all builders, I think. That's one of the things that's consistent across all of us: we like to build something. And when I can't contribute to the building, that's when it gets boring.” — Melissa Bouma, Smart Agency Masterclass with Jason Swenk: Podcast for Digital Marketing Agencies

Jason Swenk described feeling adrift after selling his agency and losing his identity as CEO. Melissa Bouma, who has been through several exits, suggests what founders actually miss is the chance to build.

Smart Agency Masterclass with Jason Swenk: Podcast for Digital Marketing Agencies · 2026-11-11 Permalink → Listen →
Smart Agency Masterclass with Jason Swenk: Podcast for Digital Marketing Agencies Around 18:48 into the episode
Melissa Bouma

business to that place.

Jason Swenk

Right. But like the 20 hours I worked, man, I was, I was on it. And then you take that away. I'm like, well, what do you want me to do now? I was like, horrible.

Melissa Bouma

It's interesting. And it's interesting to ask yourself too. And I'm sure you've done this, like, was it the decisions or was it the ability to like influence and drive change, right? And have that like impact. And it's probably the latter, right? Like, strike me as someone who'd be okay to delegate, yet at the same time, like, we're all builders, I think. I think that's one of the things that's consistent across all of us is we like to build something. And when I can't contribute to the building, that's when it gets boring.

Jason Swenk

Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, for two weeks, it was nice after we, after my tour of duty was done, I was like, all right, good. I don't have to do anything. And then I'm like, just antsy. Yeah. I was like, there's only so much stuff I could build around the house. You know, like everybody I know is…

Melissa Bouma

Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Well, I think that's probably what made you a good CEO, right? It's like you want to take whatever is inside and just pour out that contribution into something, right? Building something, building people, solving problems, or like bringing expertise to communities. Yeah. Yeah. I…

Jason Swenk

When with your new role and being the CEO, how did you grow the agency before you were bought again? And now that you're the chief growth officer, how are you continuing to build? Is it building the agency through acquisition? Because a lot of times, and I've done this, where once you start growing…

Speaker names come from our own diarization. The position is estimated from where the line sits in the episode.

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