vs · The retainer agency
$100/mo or $9K/mo.One of these answers your Slack on Wednesday.
If you're weighing a marketing agency against me — here's how the math works, and the question agencies don't want you to ask.
A founder left her $9K retainer for me. The agency's last quarterly deck explained why the numbers hadn't moved. Mine moves them on Friday.
The math01
Side by side. No spin.
The retainer agency
6-month contract · 14 clients ahead of yours
$9K/mo · $108K/yr · plus add-ons
Juliet
AI growth engineer
$100/mo · Monday start
Cost (year 1)
$108K minimum · usually $150K+ with overages
$1,200/yr ($100/mo)
Attention
You're client #14. Senior runs the call. Juniors do the work.
100% of attention · every time · no triage
Turnaround
2-3 week sprints · revisions are next month
Same day · revisions in minutes · ship Friday
Lock-in
6-12 month contract · scope creep is their margin
Cancel anytime · no contract
What you own
They keep the templates, the brand work, the playbook
Every asset shipped in your repo · yours forever
Reporting
Quarterly deck explaining why the numbers didn't move
Friday review · what moved · what I kill next
02Honest moment
When the agency wins.
When you need 50+ ad creatives a week, multi-channel paid media management, or industry-specific PR contacts. I'm not built for media buying at scale. For paid teams running $100K+/mo, an agency may still be the right call. For everything else? You're paying retainer for work I do in 24 hours.
Decide03
Without the retainer.
Start with me.
Try me for one month at 1% of agency cost.
If I don't outship the agency on the work they actually do, cancel.