James Kennedy sits down with fractional CFO Shane Bender, founder of Bender CFO Services, to dig into the financial realities of running a marketing or digital agency. Using his love of weather models as a metaphor for forecasting, Shane explains why most agency owners are flying blind on margins, cash flow, and growth targets – and how better data, simple models, and discipline can turn chaos into clarity. From client-level profitability to weekly cash planning and “smarter” goals, this conversation is a practical roadmap for agencies that want to grow without blowing up their finances.
About Shane Bender:
Based in North Texas, Shane Bender, CPA is the founder of Bender CFO Services, a fractional CFO firm serving agencies and other growing businesses in the US. With 20+ years’ experience spanning KPMG, controller and FP&A leadership roles, and multiple high-growth marketing agencies (including one that quadrupled revenue en route to acquisition), Shane specializes in forecasting, cash flow management, and building agency finance functions that support sustainable growth and exit-ready valuations. He is also the author of Forecast Your Future: How Small Businesses Exchange Stress and Chaos for Cash and Clarity.
What You’ll Learn:
- The 3 Hidden Financial Blind Spots in Agencies
Why so many agencies underprice work, ignore gross margin, and run on “gut feel” instead of numbers – and how that quietly destroys profitability. - How to Fix Misaligned Pricing & Margins
What a healthy agency gross margin really looks like (hint: 50-60%, not 30%), and practical ways to diagnose under-priced clients and over-servicing without forcing everyone into hated timesheets. - Real-World Client Profitability Analysis (Without Fancy Systems)
How to use simple surveys, allocation percentages, and fully-loaded salary costs to get a usable view of client-level profitability – even if you don’t have a time-tracking tool. - Cash Flow Management for Media-Heavy Agencies
Why agencies end up acting as the bank for their clients, how to use upfront billing and tighter AR processes to flip the script, and when to break cash down into weekly forecasts. - Linking Financial Strategy to Growth Goals
How to connect revenue and EBITDA targets to a living forecast, use “smarter” goals (specific, measurable, time-bound and exciting), and run a monthly CFO meeting that actually drives decisions.
Episode Highlights:
“If your gross margin is 30%, you’re not going to be profitable in an agency environment. You need to be in that 50-60% range to build a healthy business.”
“Forecasting isn’t about predicting the future perfectly – it’s about seeing what’s impossible and forcing honest conversations about your assumptions.”
“If Google and Meta are billing you in 30-45 days and your clients are paying you in 60–90, you’ve become the bank. That’s a cash-flow strategy – just not a good one.”
“There’s always that one big client covering a multitude of sins. When they leave, you suddenly see how unprofitable the rest of the agency really is.”
“Goals only matter if they’re tied into a model you review every month – compare forecast to actuals, ask what changed, and then adjust.”
More About Shane’s Role:
At Bender CFO Services, Shane acts as a part-time CFO for agencies and other growing businesses typically between $1M and $20M in revenue. He builds practical forecasting and cash-flow models, helps owners understand their true gross margin and client profitability, and designs simple AR and billing processes that keep campaigns running without turning the agency into a bank. Shane also facilitates monthly CFO review meetings, aligning financial strategy with growth goals so founders can scale, de-risk, and ultimately build businesses that are both profitable today and attractive to future buyers.
