Small Business Miracles Podcast · Small Business Miracles Podcast

Everyone has a strategic plan, whether they know it or not.

October 31, 2025·21 min·1 clip

John Morris shares the secret behind growing his agency to $37.5 million in revenue through smart financial decisions.

This episode features Jeff Randolph interviewing John Morris, founder and CEO of Fiscal Advocate, about aligning business strategy with financial execution. Morris is a seasoned entrepreneur who previously founded and grew the digital marketing agency Rise Interactive to over $37 million in revenue. He argues that every business operates with a de facto strategic plan based on where it allocates time and money, whether intentional or not. Morris explains that Fiscal Advocate provides budgeting, forecasting, and business intelligence specifically for service-based companies, particularly in marketing and tech services. He emphasizes the critical importance of defining an ideal client profile, citing his own focus on U.S. companies with $5-$50 million in revenue. Morris shares that there are roughly 120,000 marketing agencies in the U.S., and his firm targets the 30,000 within his specific criteria. He recounts how a competitor's use of programmatic advertising, which was new to him, led to a key innovation at Rise Interactive. Morris also announces Luca, an AI CFO co-pilot named after Luca Pacioli, set for full launch in January to provide financial guidance for service companies. A compelling insight is Morris's view that not spending on sales and marketing is itself a strategic decision signaling that growth is not a priority. He reveals that his first digital agency, started in 1996, failed partly due to poor financial and HR practices, teaching him the hard discipline of managing personnel costs. Morris admits he is poor at celebrating big wins and shares that his management style has evolved from focusing on employees' bottom 5% of mistakes to highlighting the top 95% of their successes. He connects his business philosophy to lessons from team sports, like soccer, which he played through college and now coaches with his daughters. The conversation is educational and conversational, blending personal anecdotes with practical business frameworks. The tone is direct and experienced, with the host facilitating a deep dive into operational strategy. Listeners interested in practical financial planning, niche marketing, and scaling service businesses will find concrete takeaways. Those seeking entertainment or broad inspirational stories might find the focused, analytical discussion less engaging.

As heard by us

A clear reminder that budgets show what a business is really choosing to fund.

John Morris argues that a budget is often the clearest version of a strategy, even when no one has bothered to write the strategy down. The strongest part of the discussion is the move from sales and marketing spend into annual and quarterly planning, then into revenue, profit,…

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Why you'd press play

You want your budget to tell the truth about growth.

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