Today we’d like to introduce you to JP Vasquez.
Hi JP, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I’ve been doing this kind of work for about twenty years. It started with a data entry job at a small agency in Florida. I kept asking for more, and they kept handing it to me, so I picked up creative design, then web development, and became a Flash developer back when that was the cutting edge. That stretch put me in rooms with brands like Slim Jim, Taco Bell, Coca-Cola, and Celebrity Cruises, and we won a stack of awards along the way.
From there I moved through a couple of agencies before landing at HZ (HZDG), where I spent ten years leading the digital practice. That meant a bit of everything: project management, digital marketing, running teams, and leading new business on the digital side. When HZ was acquired by a New York PR agency, I knew it was my window to build my own thing.
I had always kept a little freelance work going. Once I started managing teams, I didn’t want to lose the direct touch of actually doing the work, so freelance was how I stayed close to it. When I decided to go out on my own, I went back to those clients and asked a simple question: if I did this full-time, would you give me more business? The answer, across the board, was yes. Most of it was WordPress sites at the time. That was seven and a half years ago, and that’s how Scale started.
Early on it was mostly web work, plus partnerships where we acted as the digital arm for branding agencies. The moment I knew I had a real business was when I charged $20,000 for a website, an e-commerce build for a biological lab company. It was the most I had ever charged, and they said yes. That gave me the confidence to ask for higher prices and push for higher-level strategy. The other turning point was hiring my third person. I started with a developer, added a project manager, and that third hire was when it finally felt like a company instead of just me.
The name is a play on words. I’m a musician, I play guitar, and scales are the foundation of how you build a piece of music. Everyone has access to the same notes. It’s only when you arrange them with a certain structure, a certain scale, that you create a specific feeling and a certain tone. That’s what we do for clients: the same raw ingredients everyone has, arranged with strategy so the business can actually scale.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It hasn’t been a smooth road, and the hardest part has been building a fully remote company. We became remote out of necessity, and remote work has real advantages, but building an actual culture without an office takes a lot more intention and a lot more personal touch. I’ll be honest: I’m still learning this one. I make mistakes, and it’s not perfect by any means. Keeping people connected, inspired, and genuinely working together is the hardest part of my job right now, second only to the ongoing work of building the business itself.
More recently, AI has become both an advantage and a threat at the same time, and managing those two truths is something I can’t claim to have fully figured out.
What carries me through all of it is something I learned early in my career: “make it happen.” I was always the person people counted on to just make it happen, and somewhere along the way that became part of my core. Whatever the struggle, that’s the mindset I come back to.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Scale is a digital product agency. We design and implement what makes companies grow. Some of it is brand work, websites, e-commerce, custom applications, CRM systems, and the digital marketing that drives all of it. The word that matters most in that list is “implement.” Plenty of agencies will design something beautiful and hand you a file. We stay in it through launch and into production, including the technical plumbing most agencies won’t touch: CRM builds, system integrations, the code that makes everything actually talk to each other.
We do focused work in a few industries we know deeply: outdoor power equipment, pet care, food service, and hospitality. That focus means we’re not relearning a client’s world on their dime. We’ve already done the homework.
What sets us apart is simple. We’re a partner, not a vendor. We’re a small, senior team, which means the people you meet are the people doing the work. No corporate hoops, no junior staff learning on your account, no layers between you and the person solving your problem. I built the company that way on purpose. When I was running large teams earlier in my career, I kept freelancing on the side because I never wanted to lose the direct touch of the work itself. Scale is that principle turned into a company.
What I want your readers to know is that we’re here to build something real. If you’re looking for a partner who will tell you the truth, move fast, and actually ship, that’s us.
What makes you happy?
My family makes me happy. My wife and my kids are the driving force behind everything I do. Spending time with them, taking a trip together, building memories that stick… that is what it’s all about for me.
I also have more hobbies than I have time for. I’m a terrible golfer, but I play anyway. I still play guitar, I love video games, and I make pizza whenever I get the chance. When I look at that list, it’s really all the same thing: doing something I enjoy alongside people I care about, and making good memories out of it.
With Scale, what makes me happiest is the work itself, specifically the moments when the team comes together and pulls off something that seemed impossible. That’s my favorite thing we do. Everyone else looks at a problem and says it can’t be done, we put our heads down, and we make it happen. Then we get to be proud of it together. That feeling never gets old.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.scale.agency/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/scale-creative-group-llc
