RelationshipOps of the Week #40.
White Label Agency
White Label Agency
|
“The big win I typically find happens over time.”
“The big win I typically find happens over time.”
Brian Gerstner.
This week, we're featuring Brian Gerstner… President of White Label IQ… a white label agency built to help digital firms expand their capabilities without expanding their internal teams… and the proud sponsor of the Build a Better Agency Podcast.
Brian started out as a designer… someone who measured his worth by what he could deliver. Over two decades inside the agency world, working across design, development, and digital delivery, something shifted. He realized that the work matters, but the relationships around the work matter just as much… maybe more.
Today, through White Label IQ, Brian helps agencies scale by providing white labeled digital services (development, design, marketing, and technical execution), so partners can grow their offerings without building everything internally. But what sets Brian apart isn't just how he runs an operation. It's how he shows up in the communities around him.
His biggest opportunities haven't come from a single breakthrough moment. They've come from peer groups… from showing up consistently… from managing not just relationships, but reputation over time.
Brian believes AI is actually going to make us more human… pushing us back toward conferences, face-to-face moments, and the kind of connection that email and Zoom can only take so far.
At the core of everything he does is a simple conviction:
What you know is important, but how you show up… that's what people remember you.
Consistent Smaller Wins.
Leonard Chin: What’s an instance when a relationship led to a big win or a really great opportunity for your business?
Brian Gerstner:
“I would say more so I've had the experience of just a lot of smaller wins consistently, just through maintaining and nurturing relationships for it more consistently. The big win I typically find happens over time.
As we work with people, there's a great opportunity; something happens, and progressively it's sort of like land it and grow it, but we've landed a tremendous amount of great opportunities where we've been able to grow those. Typically, they're coming from involvement in peer groups, where I'm just kind of not just managing a relationship but reputation within these groups.”
Meetups Enhance Chemistry.
Leonard Chin: What's your daily/weekly routine for maintaining relationships that help your business?
Brian Gerstner:
“In some ways, it's constant email outreach and making sure I'm on a Zoom call as much as possible. Beyond that, the exception is I really believe AI is what's going to make us human again, so very much just trying to get back out to conferences, get in front of people, kind of make that contact. It makes the conversation so much easier and, like, building the relationships. I find that when we're just in the daily weekly routine and just reaching out through email and Zoom, it's like they can only go so far. Once I meet someone, in person, the chemistry of the conversation is just dramatically different every time.”
Relationships Over Deliverables.
Leonard Chin: What tips would you give to your younger self around relationships and how they impact business?
Brian Gerstner:
“Really, it's when I came up, I was a designer; I worked in the creative field, so so much, everything was just based upon the deliverables that I was doing. Now, that was absolutely important; I'm not diminishing any of that in any way! As I get more involved in the business, I realize that, at the end of the day, these are relationships. It's just the clarity inside the relationship about how you're delivering, and my gosh, it's about the network; it's about the people! What you know is critically important, but how you show up, the hunger, the drive, the passion you put in maintaining the relationships and just what you care about, I mean, we're human. At the core of this, and I think sometimes people lose sight of that.”
Key Takeaways.
We’re glad to have Brian Gerstner with us on this week’s series, and here are the few key takeaways:
The biggest opportunities often aren’t single breakthroughs… they come from consistently nurturing relationships and letting smaller wins compound over time.
In person over digital. Email and Zoom keep conversations moving… but meeting people in person at conferences creates the chemistry that strengthens relationships.
Deliverables matter… but reputation, network, and the way you show up in relationships ultimately shape long term opportunities.
That’s all for now.
If you're open to sharing your experiences in one of our future articles… or know of someone who is, feel free to drop me an email here.
Author.
Leonard Chin
Follow me on LinkedIn.
Brian Gerstner.
This week, we're featuring Brian Gerstner… President of White Label IQ… a white label agency built to help digital firms expand their capabilities without expanding their internal teams… and the proud sponsor of the Build a Better Agency Podcast.
Brian started out as a designer… someone who measured his worth by what he could deliver. Over two decades inside the agency world, working across design, development, and digital delivery, something shifted. He realized that the work matters, but the relationships around the work matter just as much… maybe more.
Today, through White Label IQ, Brian helps agencies scale by providing white labeled digital services (development, design, marketing, and technical execution), so partners can grow their offerings without building everything internally. But what sets Brian apart isn't just how he runs an operation. It's how he shows up in the communities around him.
His biggest opportunities haven't come from a single breakthrough moment. They've come from peer groups… from showing up consistently… from managing not just relationships, but reputation over time.
Brian believes AI is actually going to make us more human… pushing us back toward conferences, face-to-face moments, and the kind of connection that email and Zoom can only take so far.
At the core of everything he does is a simple conviction:
What you know is important, but how you show up… that's what people remember you.
Consistent Smaller Wins.
Leonard Chin: What’s an instance when a relationship led to a big win or a really great opportunity for your business?
Brian Gerstner:
“I would say more so I've had the experience of just a lot of smaller wins consistently, just through maintaining and nurturing relationships for it more consistently. The big win I typically find happens over time.
As we work with people, there's a great opportunity; something happens, and progressively it's sort of like land it and grow it, but we've landed a tremendous amount of great opportunities where we've been able to grow those. Typically, they're coming from involvement in peer groups, where I'm just kind of not just managing a relationship but reputation within these groups.”
Meetups Enhance Chemistry.
Leonard Chin: What's your daily/weekly routine for maintaining relationships that help your business?
Brian Gerstner:
“In some ways, it's constant email outreach and making sure I'm on a Zoom call as much as possible. Beyond that, the exception is I really believe AI is what's going to make us human again, so very much just trying to get back out to conferences, get in front of people, kind of make that contact. It makes the conversation so much easier and, like, building the relationships. I find that when we're just in the daily weekly routine and just reaching out through email and Zoom, it's like they can only go so far. Once I meet someone, in person, the chemistry of the conversation is just dramatically different every time.”
Relationships Over Deliverables.
Leonard Chin: What tips would you give to your younger self around relationships and how they impact business?
Brian Gerstner:
“Really, it's when I came up, I was a designer; I worked in the creative field, so so much, everything was just based upon the deliverables that I was doing. Now, that was absolutely important; I'm not diminishing any of that in any way! As I get more involved in the business, I realize that, at the end of the day, these are relationships. It's just the clarity inside the relationship about how you're delivering, and my gosh, it's about the network; it's about the people! What you know is critically important, but how you show up, the hunger, the drive, the passion you put in maintaining the relationships and just what you care about, I mean, we're human. At the core of this, and I think sometimes people lose sight of that.”
Key Takeaways.
We’re glad to have Brian Gerstner with us on this week’s series, and here are the few key takeaways:
The biggest opportunities often aren’t single breakthroughs… they come from consistently nurturing relationships and letting smaller wins compound over time.
In person over digital. Email and Zoom keep conversations moving… but meeting people in person at conferences creates the chemistry that strengthens relationships.
Deliverables matter… but reputation, network, and the way you show up in relationships ultimately shape long term opportunities.
That’s all for now.
If you're open to sharing your experiences in one of our future articles… or know of someone who is, feel free to drop me an email here.
Author.
Leonard Chin
Follow me on LinkedIn.