There are few things that make me question a LinkedIn connection request more than the overuse of words like “growth” and “scale” in someone’s profile. These people are often members of the Cult of Growth, which seems to be so popular on LinkedIn. I see enough of their regurgitated sermons without engaging with their DMs…
Many agencies are born from a talent for “the craft” they will deliver. A talented designer founds a creative agency, a gifted programmer starts a development shop or a PPC expert starts a paid media agency. Each of these founders (and scores like them) shares a common starting point: a profound expertise and passion for…
Working ridiculous, long hours and failing to take holiday are almost badges of honour for many business owners. Whenever I ask anyone sporting those badges why they do it I tend to get a mixture of three common answers: It’s the last of those points I really want to address, as it is both the…
Running a business isn’t just hard; it can be relentless. We all have a finite capacity for the number of hard things we can deal with at once, and that capacity is often not enough. We all have different ways to cope when we feel ourselves reaching (or passing) that capacity, but I want to…
Have you ever counted up the sheer number of questions you field each day as a leader? Or calculated the hours you sacrifice giving answers to ‘quick questions’? While being available for quick questions might seem like the WD-40 that keeps your agency running smoothly, it comes with its own set of hidden costs. Once…
It’s every business owner’s dream. I recently signed two new clients as a result of writing a single post on LinkedIn. In fact, that post not only landed me great clients, but also triggered conversations with two other hot prospects keen to do business. This wasn’t fluke either. I was confident that I would win…
It’s easy to dismiss the role of luck in business success. Many business books make business seem like a recipe that is almost guaranteed to succeed if you mix the right ingredients in the right way, but I don’t believe that is the truth. Tainted by the author’s own survivorship bias, these books often overlook…
Recent years have seen a rise in the personal productivity approach of building a “second-brain”; The idea of capturing thoughts, notes and ideas in one central software repository.” – This sentence should be split into two: “Recent years have seen a rise in the personal productivity approach of building a “second-brain”. The idea involves capturing…
There’s a point in a growing business where things often take a sudden shift from “Wow, this is going well” to “Help, it’s all falling apart”. It’s rarely one thing, but instead a rapidly growing undercurrent of things being missed, inconsistent delivery and decreasing morale. A panicked leader might even try to fix it by…
All good things come to an end and your involvement with your agency will be no exception. It’s no more avoidable than death or taxes (and will possibly involve at least one of those things). Despite this, many agency leaders never give serious consideration to this inevitable business milestone. They should. Knowing where you want…