Case Study: SEO agency Skyrocket cuts contractor fees 30% and boosts profitability with Hubstaff

How an SEO Agency Saves up to 30% in Contractor Fees by Using Hubstaff

Skyrocket is an SEO agency founded by James Agate that grew to 120 staff and contractors across 10 countries, offering link building, content production and white‑label services. As the team expanded on Upwork, percentage-based platform fees, unreliable tracking and a lack of project-level visibility drove up contractor costs and left James unsure which projects were truly profitable.

Switching to Hubstaff — with a low flat fee and activity-based time tracking — eliminated pay for idle time and gave Skyrocket clear, project-level cost data. The change cut contractor payroll by up to 30% (saving thousands a month), sped onboarding, improved support, and revealed unprofitable work so the agency could focus only on profitable clients.

Skyrocket

James Agate

Founder & CEO