The best community for marketers on the internet: https://www.columbusmarketing.org

Hans Skillrud went from Groupon employee #100 to agency owner to acquiring a competitor to co-founding Termageddon, a privacy compliance SaaS he runs with his wife Donata. In this episode, Hans breaks down how niching down and buying out struggling competitors built his agency's growth, why he sold it to focus on Termageddon full-time, and why most website owners have no idea how much data their site is quietly collecting and sharing. He also lays out exactly what he'd do if he were starting a web agency today, from acquisitions to one-day builds.

CONNECT WITH HANS
🌐 Website: https://termageddon.com/
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hans-skillrud/

CONNECT WITH ANDY
🌐 Website: https://www.mmgdesign.net/
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindfulmilligan/

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Intro
00:00 - The Groupon job that started it all
02:19 - The cold call that accidentally launched a web design career
04:30 - 37 services down to one: the niche that changed everything
06:24 - How buying a struggling competitor fell into his lap
08:04 - Turning an acquisition into a six-figure pipeline with cold calls
12:26 - How he met his wife and co-founder, Donata
15:28 - Why he sold his agency to go all-in on Termageddon
18:50 - The data your website is sharing without you knowing it
21:15 - Inside the $30,000 SIPA demand letters hitting site owners
27:15 - His playbook to buy agencies with zero money down
33:10 - Why your current customers are your best growth channel
35:51 - What's next for Hans, and the move to Lithuania

TEAM
🎙 Host // Andy Milligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/
🎥 Production // MMG Design: https://www.mmgdesign.net/

⚡️ Join the Columbus Marketing Organization: https://www.columbusmarketing.org

In this solo episode, Andy Milligan opens the books on MMG Studio's August 2026 performance — $26K in revenue, a growing enterprise client concentration problem, the studio's first-ever in-person networking event, and the exact subscriptions he's cutting to trim $700 a month in software spend. This is Andy's monthly retro format, run with full transparency on profit, loss, wins, and losses.

CONNECT WITH ANDY

🌐 Website: https://www.mmgdesign.net/

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindfulmilligan/

TOOLS I USE

💰 Monarch Money: https://monarch.com/referral/z41ilq6s8l?r_source=copy

📇 Folk CRM: https://try.folk.app/17t000urnxbb

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - The August retro nobody asked for (but you needed)

01:14 - Why I run these every month

02:30 - Opening the books: Monarch Money walkthrough

03:21 - $26K revenue, $378K lifetime, and where it's going

06:14 - The client concentration problem I created

12:14 - The $700 software bill I'm finally cutting

19:34 - My first in-person event: 21 people, 0 regrets

26:33 - The mistake costing me the most: mornings

30:27 - Goals for September and what's next

TEAM

🎙 Host // Andy Milligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

🎥 Production // MMG Design: https://www.mmgdesign.net/

🔥 Learn, Connect, and Grow With Other Marketers: www.columbusmarketing.org
💎 Our agency (Web + SEO): www.mmg.studio

Angela Troccoli is the Head of Marketing at Revecore and an award-winning marketing executive with nearly two decades leading go-to-market strategy across supply chain, healthcare, and digital commerce. In this episode, she breaks down why marketing goes wrong so often (hint: it's rarely the tactics), what pushed her to write her new book "Signals: Common Marketing Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them," and why AI is accelerating bad strategy just as fast as good strategy for teams that skip the fundamentals. If you lead marketing, sit on a board, or just got asked to "do more with the same budget," this episode gives you language for what's actually going wrong and how to fix it.

CONNECT WITH ANGELA
🌐 Website: https://angelatroccoli.com
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela1morel/
📖 Book: https://www.amazon.com/Signals-Common-Marketing-Pitfalls-Avoid/dp/B0H4DV7GFD

CONNECT WITH ANDY
🌐 Website: https://www.mmgdesign.net/
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindfulmilligan/

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Intro
00:07 - Why marketing goes wrong more than people think
01:36 - Marketing is a science, not pixie dust
02:19 - Everyone has a social profile, so everyone thinks they can market
02:52 - The off-the-record story about what a "campaign" actually is
04:47 - Founder-led content isn't lazy, it's strategy
06:03 - The monthly review and quarterly pivot process
07:15 - Leaving 20-30% of bandwidth for reactive news-jacking
09:18 - Building content around three personas, matched by who's speaking
12:11 - The mentor conversation that started the book
15:55 - Twenty interviews, one question: what mistake do you keep repeating?
17:19 - Why "mistakes" became "signals" instead
18:57 - The budget trap every board asks and every marketer falls for
21:34 - Giving marketers a resource to point to when they're the unpopular voice
22:20 - The uncomfortable chapter on restructuring and layoffs
24:16 - Angela's career path from supply chain to global product marketing
27:32 - Even Google, Airbnb, and Instagram make these mistakes
29:18 - Customer advocacy: the most underinvested function in marketing
31:39 - Rewriting the exit strategy chapter for optionality over IPO hype
34:11 - AI is a tool, not a colleague
37:06 - Why QA still matters even when AI is faster
40:00 - Where to find Angela and the book

TEAM
🎙 Host // Andy Milligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/
🎥 Production // MMG Design: https://www.mmgdesign.net

⚡️ Columbus Marketing Community: https://columbusmarketing.org

Andy just hosted his first in-person marketing event in Columbus, and this episode is the full, honest post-mortem. He breaks down every number: who he invited, who showed up, what it cost, and what he'd do differently. If you've ever thought about hosting your own event or building a local community around your brand, this is the real math behind doing it for the first time.

CONNECT WITH ANDY
🌐 Website: https://www.mmgdesign.net/
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindfulmilligan/

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Introduction
01:34 Venue and Logistics
03:50 The Numbers: People
06:45 The Numbers: Cost
10:27 Time and Overall Expense
12:11 Wins and Successes
17:18 Lessons and Improvements
21:06 Follow-Up and Feedback
27:37 Next Steps and Conclusion

TEAM
🎙 Host // Andy Milligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/
🎥 Production // MMG Design: https://www.mmgdesign.net/

⚡️ High-Converting Websites Visual Swipe File: https://www.mmgdesign.net/visualswipefile

Dr. Lillian Liang Emlet has spent 20 years in critical care medicine and is still practicing today. After a pandemic-driven reckoning forced her to confront her own burnout, she founded Transforming Healthcare Coaching to help other healthcare leaders name what's actually happening to them at work. In this episode, we trace her path from a pre-med kid pushed toward medicine to an ICU physician and executive coach, and dig into why burnout is a workplace problem rather than a personal failing. If you lead people in a high-stakes environment, healthcare or otherwise, this one is worth your time.

CONNECT WITH LILLIAN

🌐 Website: https://transforminghealthcarecoaching.com/

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lillian-liang-emlet-transforming-healthcare-coaching/

CONNECT WITH ANDY

🌐 Website: https://www.mmgdesign.net/

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindfulmilligan/

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Recording rituals and pre-show nerves

02:24 What actually got Lillian into medicine

05:31 20 years in critical care and the move from ER to ICU

06:50 The pandemic reckoning that led to coaching

08:36 Being coached for the first time and not knowing yourself at 40

10:09 Linear vs. curvilinear career paths

12:04 What clinical teaching taught her about coaching

15:23 Burnout is a system problem, not a personal one

15:50 The real numbers behind healthcare burnout

18:23 What burnout actually feels like day to day

20:45 You are more than your output

22:53 Why community exists and the loneliness problem

27:35 What separates a thriving community from one that fizzles

30:26 Free community as a top-of-funnel offering

33:42 Why success looks different for a new grad vs. a 20-year veteran

36:19 Where to find Lillian

TEAM

🎙 Host // Andy Milligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

🎥 Production // MMG Design: https://www.mmgdesign.net/

⚡️ Are you a marketer? Get the best jobs delivered to your inbox every Monday: https://www.columbusmarketingjobs.com

Dr. Kristina Medvedeva is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Otterbein University who spent nearly a decade as a marketing practitioner at companies like IKEA and Deutsche Post DHL before stepping into academia. In this episode, she and Andy dig into what's really changing in higher ed, why AI is both the great equalizer and the great trap for marketers, and how she's rebuilding her curriculum around critical thinking instead of prompt writing. If you're trying to figure out how to stay marketable, hire smarter, or make sense of what a marketing degree is actually worth in 2026, this conversation gives you a straight answer.

CONNECT WITH KRISTINA

🌐 Website: https://www.otterbein.edu/profiles/kristina-medvedeva/

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristina-s-medvedeva/

CONNECT WITH ANDY

🌐 Website: https://www.mmgdesign.net/

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindfulmilligan/

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:36 - Six degrees, four languages, three countries

03:15 - Why she left the industry to teach

05:56 - Nine years teaching, fifteen years as a student

06:53 - What's actually changed in higher ed

13:02 - The real ROI question every student should ask

16:03 - Is US business education really the best in the world

20:17 - How she keeps her curriculum from going stale

23:43 - What makes a marketing student marketable

28:27 - Why every marketer has to be AI literate

32:37 - The advantage, and disadvantage, of AI: everybody can use it

36:28 - Why she still grades you, not the AI

42:33 - The wrong way to pick a career based on AI

45:09 - Her honest advice for anyone considering college

TEAM

🎙 Host // Andy Milligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

🎥 Production // MMG Design: https://www.mmgdesign.net/

🤝 Powered by // AMA Columbus: https://amacolumbus.org

⚡️ 2026 State of Healthcare Web Report (100+ Websites Analyzed): report.mmg.studio

Tom Casano, founder of Tamarind, has managed over $50 million in LinkedIn ad spend across 3,000+ campaigns. In this episode, he breaks down what actually separates LinkedIn Ads from Meta and Google, why Thought Leader Ads are one of the cheapest ways to reach decision makers, and the exact default settings that quietly burn ad budget. Then Andy hands over his screen so Tom can build a real LinkedIn ad campaign for MMG Design live, targeting mistakes and all.

CONNECT WITH TOM

🌐 Website: https://www.tamarind.agency/

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomcasano/

🏢 Company: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tamarind-0/

CONNECT WITH ANDY

🌐 Website: https://www.mmgdesign.net/

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindfulmilligan/

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:26 - From Wall Street to accidental marketer

02:47 - The $50 lead that became a $10 lead (and why that didn't matter)

05:21 - LinkedIn vs. Meta vs. Google, the real difference

15:28 - The $2 click hiding in plain sight (Thought Leader Ads)

23:11 - What makes a perfect LinkedIn Ads client

32:02 - The default setting quietly tripling your ad costs

40:06 - Building a live LinkedIn ad campaign on camera

55:41 - One click, ten million wasted dollars

TEAM

🎙 Host // Andy Milligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

🎥 Production // MMG Design: https://www.mmgdesign.net/

🤝 Powered by // AMA Columbus: https://amacolumbus.org and our friends at COHATCH (Get 2 free weeks or premium coworking, on us) https://www.cohatch.com/mbd

TEAM

🎙 Host // Andy Milligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

🎥 Production // MMG Design: https://www.mmgdesign.net/

⚡️ Columbus Marketing Jobs: www.columbusmarketingjobs.com

I sat down with Max Miller of Chute Gerdeman for an episode of Brands & Banter, a show about retail design and brand strategy. We got into extreme ownership, why brand consistency works like a bouquet of flowers, and why most B2B websites are designed like filing cabinets when they should be designed like storefronts.

CONNECT WITH MAX

🌐 Website: https://www.chutegerdeman.com/

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxmiller614/

CONNECT WITH ANDY

🌐 Website: https://www.mmg.studio/

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindfulmilligan/

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:20 - How I explain what I actually do

01:20 - What Findlay and student-run agency work taught me

06:51 - The power follows the finger of blame

09:15 - The bouquet of flowers, why brand consistency breaks trust

15:49 - Getting laid off and starting MMG the same year

18:15 - Why we niched into healthcare and B2B

20:38 - Quantifying risk instead of avoiding it

25:25 - Why a website is a digital storefront

34:51 - The lead magnet philosophy, giving away what you could charge for

41:55 - Volunteering with AMA Columbus and no expectation of return

44:16 - Why Columbus Marketing Jobs exists

TEAM

🎙 Host // Max Miller: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxmiller614/

🎥 Production // Chute Gerdeman: https://www.chutegerdeman.com/

🤝 Guest // Andy Milligan, MMG Studio: https://www.mmg.studio/

TEAM

🎙 Host // Andy Milligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

🎥 Production // MMG Design: https://www.mmgdesign.net/