Run your agency on numbers you trust: capacity, margin, cash and a weekly rhythm
A complete operations toolkit for owners and operations leads of small agencies, studios and consultancies: the method, the workbook, the forms and the exact words for the hard moments.
- A 10-chapter e-book teaching six operating loops (price, book, deliver, bill, review, grow), with one composite studio's quarter running through every chapter
- The Agency Operations Workbook: 17 sheets covering team capacity and cost rates, project profitability, eight-week resourcing with overload flags, utilisation, weighted pipeline, forecast, agency P&L, billing, 13-week cash, client concentration, health log, contractors and two dashboards
- A 7-sheet Pricing and Margin Calculator, 4 fillable PDF forms and 6 Word templates, including 41 messages and call scripts and 26 AI prompts
- A Start Here map, 3 more cheat sheets including dated contractor and invoicing notes by country, a 64-event quarterly calendar and a 33-task CSV board
The Agency Operations Kit · Bodhih Pro Kits · 208 by Bodhih Training, trainers to 2,000+ companies since 2008.
How do you run the operations of a small agency?
Run six loops on a fixed rhythm: price each piece of work against a cost floor and its value, book people eight weeks ahead every Monday, review project health and scope every week, invoice on trigger dates and watch thirteen weeks of cash, review AGI, margin and utilisation monthly, and decide on hiring and client mix quarterly. The Agency Operations Kit from Bodhih Training gives you a file for each loop.
Want the full free guide first? Read Agency Utilisation Rate: How to Calculate It and Plan Capacity.
You already feel the problem. Here is what it is costing you.
Busy, and still not sure you are making money
Fees are up, the team is flat out, and the bank balance does not reflect it. Without separating pass-through costs and knowing your break-even, a record month can hide a thin margin.
Nobody knows who is free next month
Resourcing lives in the owner's head and a chat thread. Two leads promise the same person to two clients, and the crunch is discovered on a Sunday night.
Projects quietly running over
A third round of amends here, an extra template there, content arriving weeks late. The overrun is visible only at the final invoice, when it is too late to price it.
Quotes that feel generous and lose money
Prices are built from hours and charge-out rates without knowing what an hour really costs once overhead and non-billable time are included.
Cash surprises
Salaries and rent leave on fixed dates; clients pay when they pay. Without a billing rhythm and a 13-week view, a profitable studio can still run short.
The owner as the bottleneck
Every pricing decision, review and difficult client call waits for one person, who is also billing half their week and has no time to sell.
Picture the next few weeks with the kit open beside you.
Picture next Monday at 9.30. Instead of a chat thread, you open the Capacity sheet and see the one week next month where your senior designer is booked at 107%. Thirty minutes later the work has moved to someone with spare time, a contractor brief is ready, and everyone knows their week before 10.30.
Now it is Thursday afternoon. As you read the Dashboard aloud, the Projects sheet shows a website 30% over its hours with a third of the work still to do. You open the change order template, price the extra templates the client asked for, and send it before the end of the day. The rest of the overrun is recorded as a conscious decision, with a lesson for the next estimate.
Imagine the first Tuesday of the month. The PnL sheet shows AGI against break-even, the forecast shows a quiet month three months out while there is still time to sell, and the Billing sheet names the exact message to send for each late invoice. You send the one-page owner's report before lunch.
Whether you start with the e-book tonight or with the workbook's Settings sheet tomorrow morning, the first hour is already planned on the Start Here map.
19 files that do the work for you
The e-book shows you how. The tools make it happen. Here is exactly what you download.
The Agency Operations Kit (e-book, PDF)
The guide: methods, worked examples, scripts and exercises
Start here: agency operations map
The whole operating job as six loops with the file to open at each, your first hour, a 30/60/90 day use plan and links to measure your starting point.
Agency Operations Workbook
17-sheet workbook: settings, team capacity and cost rates, project profitability, eight-week resourcing with overload flags, utilisation by person and month, weighted pipeline, six-month forecast, monthly agency P&L, billing and debtor chase, 13-week cash, client concentration, project health log, contractor register and two dashboards with charts.
Pricing and Margin Calculator
7-sheet calculator: a rate card with break-even and target rates by role, service pricing with a price floor and target price, a retainer health check, eight what-if scenarios and a summary with a chart.
Weekly operations review form
Three-page fillable form for the 45-minute weekly review: pipeline and capacity, project health and cash, people and decisions, plus two resourcing request slips.
Project estimate sheet
Three-page fillable estimate: scope and assumptions, a work breakdown by phase and role with contingency, a price check against the calculator, and sign-off before the proposal goes out.
Project health check and quality review
Three-page fillable form: a mid-project health check with hours burn and scope log, a quality review before anything reaches the client, and a 30-minute close-out review.
Monthly finance review form
Two-page fillable form for the 60-minute monthly review: the agency P&L in AGI terms, utilisation, project margins, cash and debtors, client concentration and decisions.
Agency message library
41 ready-to-edit messages and call scripts in 6 groups: resourcing conflicts, start dates, scope changes and overruns, contractor briefs, invoice and payment chasers, team capacity notices and owner messages.
Operating rhythm pack
A one-page operating rhythm charter to adopt, agendas for the Monday resourcing meeting, weekly operations review, monthly finance review and quarterly review, and a monthly owner's report template.
Project estimating guide and templates
A seven-step estimating method, an estimate template by phase and role, an assumptions and exclusions library, a client-ready estimate summary, a change order template and a retainer scope template.
Team and contractor pack
Hire, contractor or partner decision guide; six role cards for a growing agency; a contractor agreement discussion sheet in plain words for your lawyer; a contractor onboarding checklist; and a contractor brief template.
Worked example pack: one studio's quarter
The main forms and decisions completed for Larkspur Studio, a composite 12-person studio, through one quarter with a project overrun, a resourcing crunch, a cash dip and a forecast gap.
AI prompt pack for agency operations
26 tool-agnostic prompts grouped by six parts of the job (pricing, capacity, finance, projects, cash, people), each with what to paste in and what to check before you use the output.
Agency metrics and utilisation decision card
Sixteen agency formulas matched to the workbook, and eighteen if-this-then-that decisions on utilisation, scope, invoices, cash, forecast and contractors.
Agency operations mistakes to avoid
Mistakes-to-avoid card: fifteen common profit leaks with what to do instead and the file that prevents each.
Contractor and invoicing notes by country (October 2026)
Dated quick reference to late-payment rules, contractor status tests and sales tax registration in the UK, EU, US, India and Australia, with what to check elsewhere.
Quarterly operating calendar
64 events for one quarter: Monday resourcing, Thursday operations reviews and Friday invoicing every week, monthly finance reviews and owner's reports, set-up sessions and the quarterly review, each naming the file to open.
Agency operations task board
33 operations set-up and review tasks as a CSV ready to import into Trello, Asana, Notion, Planner or Jira, with loop, week, owner, file to open and due date.
Chapter by chapter
Each chapter opens with a real situation, gives you a method and ends with something to do today, using the tools in your kit.
- Format
- PDF e-book + XLSX + fillable PDF + DOCX + printable PDF + ICS + CSV
- Files
- 19 files plus a one-click ZIP
- E-book
- 60 pages
- Workbooks
- 17-sheet operations workbook and 7-sheet pricing calculator, with sample data, formulas and dashboards
- Works with
- Excel, Google Sheets, LibreOffice, Word, Google Docs, Acrobat Reader, GoodNotes, Google Calendar, Outlook, Apple Calendar, Trello, Asana, Notion, Planner, Jira
- Best for
- Agencies, studios and consultancies of 2 to 40 people, in any country and currency
Running the Studio, Not Just the Work
Why the operating side of a studio is a second job, and the six loops that run it.
The Agency Profit Model
Agency gross income, the profit stack, break-even AGI and reading your P&L as a share of AGI.
Pricing and Margin by Service
Floor, target and value prices; your real cost per billable hour; pricing models and margin by service.
Capacity, Utilisation and the Utilisation Trap
Available hours, billable targets by role, and why the average hides the utilisation trap.
Resourcing Across Projects
An eight-week resourcing plan, the 30-minute Monday meeting and four moves for any overloaded week.
Forecasting: From Pipeline to Capacity
Contracted AGI and weighted pipeline, the six-month forecast, and the link between pipeline and capacity.
Estimates, Scope and Project Profitability
Estimating from discovery, tracking hours against work done, change orders and close-out reviews.
Cash Flow and the Billing Rhythm
Deposits, milestones, retainers, chasing by stage and a 13-week cash forecast against a cash floor.
The Weekly Operating Rhythm and Quality
Short meetings on fixed days, project health in five ratings, quality review and client feedback.
Hiring, Contractors and Roles as You Grow
Hire, contract or partner; contractor paperwork and status; role cards as the studio grows.
Client Risk, the Owner's Role and AI
Client concentration, stepping the owner out of delivery, and where AI helps and must not decide.
What Monday Morning Looks Like Now
What changes on Monday morning, and the habits to keep.
Agency Metrics Definitions
Plain definitions for twenty agency measures, matched to the workbook.
Using AI in Agency Operations Safely
Seven rules for using AI tools in agency operations, with a sample prompt.
Not just reading. Tools you will actually open again.
E-book
- The Agency Operations Kit: 10 chapters, 2 appendices and 6 hand-drawn figures (PDF)
Start here
- 00-Start-Here-Agency-Operations-Map: the six operating loops with the file to open at each, your first hour and a 30/60/90 day use plan
Spreadsheets
- Agency Operations Workbook (17 sheets): Start here, Settings, Team, Projects, Resourcing, Capacity, Utilisation, Pipeline, Forecast, PnL, Billing, Cash, Clients, Health Log, Contractors, a Dashboard with 29 live measures and a utilisation chart, and a Margin View with a margin-by-service chart
- Pricing and Margin Calculator (7 sheets): rate card with break-even and target rates, service pricing with floor and target price, retainer health check, eight what-if scenarios and a summary chart
Fillable PDF forms
- Weekly operations review form: pipeline and capacity, project health and cash, people, decisions and two resourcing request slips
- Project estimate sheet: scope, assumptions and risks, work breakdown by role with two estimators, price check and sign-off
- Project health check and quality review: hours burn, scope change log, a pre-delivery quality checklist and a close-out review
- Monthly finance review form: the agency P&L in AGI terms, utilisation, margin, cash, debtors, concentration and decisions
Word templates
- Agency message library: 41 messages and call scripts for resourcing, start dates, scope and overruns, contractors, invoicing and owner moments
- Operating rhythm pack: a one-page charter to adopt, four meeting agendas and a monthly owner's report template
- Project estimating guide and templates: a seven-step method, estimate template, assumptions library, client-ready estimate summary, change order and retainer scope
- Team and contractor pack: hire, contract or partner guide, 6 role cards, a contractor agreement discussion sheet, onboarding checklist and brief template
- Worked example pack: one composite 12-person studio's quarter with an overrun, a resourcing crunch, a cash dip and a forecast gap
- AI prompt pack for agency operations: 26 prompts, each with what to paste in and what to check
Cheat sheets
- Agency metrics and utilisation decision card: sixteen formulas and eighteen if-this-then-that decisions
- Agency operations mistakes to avoid: fifteen profit leaks and the file that prevents each
- Contractor and invoicing notes by country, dated October 2026
Calendar and import
- Quarterly operating calendar (ICS): 64 events for Google Calendar, Outlook or Apple Calendar
- Agency operations task board (CSV): 33 tasks for Trello, Asana, Notion, Planner or Jira
When you have worked through it, you will be able to…
Every outcome is practised with a worked example and a tool, not just described.
- Read your agency's P&L in AGI terms and know your monthly break-even
- Calculate the real cost of an hour by role and price every quote against a floor, a target and the client's value
- Plan who works on what for eight weeks and fix overloaded weeks every Monday
- Track utilisation by person and spot both under-use and the burnout trap
- Forecast six months of AGI from signed work and weighted pipeline, and link it to capacity
- Catch project overruns early, price scope changes and learn from every close-out
- Invoice on a rhythm, chase by stage and keep thirteen weeks of cash above a floor
- Decide between hiring, contractors and partners, and step the owner out of delivery one role at a time
Know your starting point. Prove your progress.
People who measure before and after improve faster and can show it. AssessAll, our sister assessment platform, has AI-graded assessments that pair with this kit. Take one now, work through the kit, then re-take it.
Business & P&L Leader Readiness Assessment
Take the assessment →AssessAll assessmentBudget & Resource Allocation Reasoning
Take the assessment →AssessAll assessmentProject & Delivery Leadership
Take the assessment →JobularyHow a Jobulary development plan works
Make it a growth plan →A taste of Chapter 3
Utilisation is the most watched number in agency operations, and the most misused. Too low, and the studio loses money: you are paying for capacity nobody buys. But too high is also a problem, and it hides behind success. A person above 90% billable month after month has no time to learn, to help others, to think, or to absorb the next urgent request. Quality slips, estimates drift, and good people leave. A studio running everyone at the edge cannot say yes to the next good client without breaking something. The trap is to manage the average. Larkspur's team utilisation in February was 64% against a weighted target of 63%: perfect, apparently. Underneath, Aisha was at 92%, Jake was at 65% against a target of 80%, and Maya was billing 50% of her time when her own target was 35%. The average hid three different problems.
The honest comparison
| Free templates and typical advice | This kit | |
|---|---|---|
| Money | Revenue and a bank balance | AGI, people and overhead shares, break-even AGI and a monthly agency P&L |
| Pricing | Hours times a day rate | A rate card with break-even and target rates, a price floor and a value check for every quote |
| Capacity | A team calendar or a chat thread | Eight-week resourcing with overload flags and a utilisation tracker by person and month |
| Projects | Overruns found at the final invoice | Weekly hours-to-complete, overrun alerts, change order templates and close-out reviews |
| Cash | Invoices sent when someone remembers | A billing schedule, chase stages tied to scripts and a 13-week cash forecast |
| Rhythm | Meetings when something goes wrong | A one-page charter, four meeting agendas, forms for the weekly and monthly reviews and a quarterly calendar |
| Countries and AI | Assumes one country; AI not mentioned | Dated contractor and invoicing notes by country and a prompt pack with human review rules |
Made for you if…
- Owners and founders of agencies, studios and consultancies with 2 to 40 people
- Operations leads, studio managers and producers who run resourcing, billing and reporting
- Freelancers and independent consultants who now subcontract and want a system before they hire
- Design, web, development, content, marketing, video and research businesses selling expertise by the project or retainer
- Studios working across countries and currencies, from India, the Philippines, Pakistan, Nigeria and Kenya to the UK, Europe, the US, Australia and Latin America
- Teams moving from a chat thread and the owner's memory to one shared set of numbers
Probably not for you if…
- Anyone looking for legal, tax or accounting advice: the kit organises your thinking and points you to your accountant, lawyer and local rules, with country notes dated October 2026
- Solo freelancers just starting out: the AI Freelancer Launch Kit covers that stage; this kit is for running a team
- Studios that need project management software: the workbook runs alongside your tools and does not replace a PM, time tracking or accounting system
Built by trainers, tested in real rooms.
Bodhih Training has designed and delivered corporate programmes since 2008. Bodhih Pro Kits package what works in those workshops into a guide plus the exact tools we use, so you can apply it the same day without a facilitator in the room.
From here to using it in three steps
- STEP 1
Tap Get the kit
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- STEP 2
Download instantly
Your download page opens at once, with every file and a one-click ZIP. A permanent link lands in your inbox too.
- STEP 3
Open the first tool
Start with the quick-start chapter, then the main spreadsheet or planner. Most buyers use something from the kit the same day.
Your studio already has the numbers. Put them in one place and look at them every Monday.
Open the Start Here map, type your settings into the workbook and load your team and live projects. Whether you begin with the e-book this evening or the Monday resourcing meeting next week, the first hour is already planned.
Personal licence for the buyer's own use (and use with your own team or clients where the kit says so). Please don't share or resell the files. Team and company licences: solutions@bodhih.com.
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The Bodhih family, when you are ready for more
The Proposal and Statement of Work Kit
Write clear proposals and scopes that protect you.
The Creative Brief-to-Delivery Kit
Run creative and content projects from brief to final files.
The Retainer and Pricing System
Price your services and design retainers.
AssessAll
250+ AI-graded assessments to measure skills and earn verified credentials.
Jobulary
Individual development plans that start from evidence and stay yours.
Bodhih Training
Run this topic as a live workshop for your team, in person or online.
Pewple
Book a vetted coach for career, leadership or communication. Pay per session.
Bodhih.org pathways
Certification pathways in Applied AI, Workplace English and management.
The Agency Operations Kit: FAQs
Read the free guideAlready bought? Resend my linkHow do I calculate agency utilisation rate?
Divide each person's billable hours by their available hours, where available hours are contracted hours minus leave, public holidays and sickness. Set a target by role rather than one number for everyone, and look at the spread as well as the average. The workbook's Team and Utilisation sheets do this for you.
What is AGI and why do agencies use it?
Agency gross income is what you invoice minus pass-through costs such as print, media and licences you buy on the client's behalf. It is the money the agency actually has to run on, and agency benchmark reports usually express costs and profit as shares of it. The PnL sheet calculates it every month.
How should a small agency price its services?
Know three prices: a floor (your real cost including overhead), a target (the floor plus your profit target) and the value of the outcome to the client. Start the conversation from value, and never quote below the floor without a written reason. The Pricing and Margin Calculator shows all three for every estimate.
How do I stop projects running over?
Estimate from discovery with two independent estimates, write assumptions into the proposal, track hours used against work actually complete every week, and price every scope change before doing it. The Projects sheet, health check form and change order template are built for this.
When should an agency hire instead of using contractors?
Look for two quarters of evidence: a skill overloaded on your capacity plan for most of the last twelve weeks and weighted pipeline that keeps it there. One busy month is a reason to brief a contractor. Contractor status rules differ by country, so check with your lawyer and accountant.
How do I measure my starting point as an agency leader?
AssessAll offers assessments matched to this kit: Business & P&L Leader Readiness Assessment, Budget & Resource Allocation Reasoning, and Project & Delivery Leadership. Take one before you start and again after a quarter of using the rhythm. Links are on the Start Here map; the assessments are separate products and not included in the kit.
How do I turn this into a development plan for my leads?
Use the role cards and the decision card to pick one or two operating skills each lead will build, such as estimating or resourcing, then turn them into a plan. Jobulary explains how its development plans work, and the link is on the Start Here map.
Does it work in my currency and country?
Yes. Type any currency code on the Settings sheet; amounts are plain numbers and tax rates are typed per invoice. Country-specific rules on late payment, contractor status and sales tax registration are kept in one cheat sheet dated October 2026, with what to check elsewhere.
Is this legal, tax or accounting advice?
No. The kit is educational: it organises your operations and gives templates as starting points. Contracts, ownership of work, contractor status, late-payment rights and tax on services differ by country, so check your accountant, lawyer and local rules before relying on any wording.
Which software do I need?
The workbooks open in Excel, Google Sheets or LibreOffice with no macros. The forms are fillable in Acrobat Reader and most PDF apps, the templates open in Word or Google Docs, the calendar imports into Google Calendar, Outlook or Apple Calendar, and the CSV imports into Trello, Asana, Notion, Planner or Jira.
What is the refund policy?
Digital kits are non-refundable once downloaded. The exceptions are corrupted files that are not fixed within 3 working days, duplicate charges, or failed delivery.
How much does The Agency Operations Kit cost?
₹1,299 including 18% GST for buyers in India, or $34 for buyers outside India. One-time payment, no subscription, with an automatic invoice.
How do I get the files after paying?
Instantly. Your download page opens the moment payment succeeds, and a permanent download link is emailed to you. Download each file separately or everything in one ZIP.
What software do I need?
Any of the usual tools: Excel or Google Sheets for spreadsheets, Word or Google Docs for templates, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Preview, Xodo or GoodNotes for the fillable PDFs, and Google, Outlook or Apple Calendar for the calendar plan.
Can I get a refund?
Because it is a digital download, kits are not refundable once downloaded. We always refund a duplicate charge or a failed delivery, and if a file is corrupted and we cannot fix it within 3 working days. Full terms: bodhih.org/refunds.
Can my company buy this for a team?
Yes. Team and company licences, and workshops on this topic run by Bodhih Training, are available. Write to solutions@bodhih.com or call +91 99000 11601.
