I was recently asked what the one problem was that I’d like to solve for every agency I work with. I knew where the question was going. This person sells lead gen services and wanted me to say “lack of leads,” so they could pitch me on sending my clients their way. It’s a painfully common conversation, but it never goes how they’ve scripted it – because that isn’t the problem I’d focus on. The thing I’d fix is giving founders the ability to relentlessly and consistently execute on the things that matter most.

Yes, plenty of agencies do want more leads. But for some, more leads would actually be a problem. They’re already drowning in proposals and delivery. Piling more into the funnel just creates more chaos. And even for those with weak pipelines, fixing execution is usually more impactful than feeding in leads no one has time to manage properly.

The one, almost universal, problem I see is execution. Agency leaders often know what needs to be done. They just don’t do it.

What Gets in the Way

It sounds simple: do the important things, consistently. But in practice, there are four big blockers I see again and again.

  • Clarity
    Without a strategic vision, it’s hard to know which actions will really move the business forward. Agencies can spin their wheels for months because no one has defined what success actually looks like.
  • Prioritisation
    Even if you know what matters, there’s always too much on the list. Founders tell me that there is too much to do, so they didn’t get the important thing done. Reality check: There will ALWAYS be too much to do, which is why it is so important to be intentional in deciding what will and won’t get done.
  • Noise
    Agency life is full of it. Clients shouting, inboxes buzzing, Slack pinging. Those urgent tasks drown out the important ones. If you build ways to manage that then nothing important gets done.
  • Capability
    Sometimes the plan is sound, the priority is clear, but the business just can’t do it yet. You hit a blocker: Skills, bandwidth, money. Fixable, yes, but still enough to stall progress. Fixing these then become the priority.

The Founder Trap

Founder-led agencies are especially vulnerable. Many start life as a one-person operation, and the habits stick: you do everything yourself. Even as the team grows, that reflex doesn’t go away.

I know because I did it myself. When I was running my agency, I rarely gave myself time to think about the bigger picture. I look back now and see the obvious moves we should have made. Why didn’t I do them? Because I was too deep in the weeds and never took enough time to really think about what really needed doing – let alone actually execute on it.

It’s a pattern I see every week with agencies I talk with. Fear of delegation plays a part. But the bigger issue is simply lack of time set aside for strategic thinking. Without it, you’re not really leading. You’re just reacting. And reacting is exhausting.

Why It’s a Hard Sell

Execution discipline is vital, but it’s also a tough sell. Why? Because these things are never urgent, and agencies thrive on urgency.

If the pipeline’s empty, the knee-jerk response is to chase leads. If a client is banging the table, you drop everything to respond. Those immediate pressures will always feel more legitimate than stepping back to think.

The truth is you can’t ignore the symptoms. You do have to keep clients happy and keep work flowing. But unless you make space to fix the underlying causes, you’ll be stuck firefighting forever.

You have to do the two things alongside each other. Deal with the immediate, yes. But at the same time, carve out time for the bigger stuff. Because until you do, the cycle never ends. Yes, it’s hard at first. But once you start tackling the important issues the need for firefighting reduces and you free up more and more time to tackle what matters.

The Cost of Not Fixing It

When founders don’t break that cycle, the cost can be brutal.

I’ve seen people burn out. I’ve seen health and relationships suffer. I’ve seen founders so consumed by the agency that they lose the life they started the business to create in the first place. It’s not always that dramatic, but most of us can feel that we have skirted with all of those issues at some point.

And I’ve noticed something else: the mindset shift often comes with major life events. A child arrives, or a marriage, or a milestone birthday. I’ve lost count of the number of conversations that start with: “I am about to turn 40 and I can’t do this forever.”

The work is never “done.” There is no magical day where every client is delighted, the pipeline is full, and the systems all run smoothly. What you can control is your own definition of “enough”  and then execute against that.

As I sometimes put it: I’ve never spoken to an agency owner who said, “the work is done.” I’ve spoken to plenty who said, “I am done.”

What It Looks Like When It Works

The difference, when execution discipline lands, is night and day.

It’s not that the agency suddenly has fewer problems;  it’s that the founder is looking further down the road, steering rather than swerving. The business feels calmer. The chaos dials down. Counterintuitively, everything slows down. And yet, more gets done.

Like learning to ride a bike, it’s a discipline you have to practice. You’ll fall off at first. You’ll wobble. But over time, it becomes second nature if you just keep trying.

Practical Advice

So what can a founder do? For me, the answer is always the same: find a person and find a space.

The person might be a trusted advisor, a fellow founder, a peer group, or a formal board. You might even want to pay me to do it! The label doesn’t matter. What matters is carving out non-negotiable time to step back from client work and ask: what does this business need to look like in one or two years for me to be happier running it?

Don’t try to fit that thinking in between emails. Block the diary. Turn the notifications off. Tell your team you’re unavailable.

Be prepared to make the hard call: some things won’t get done. That’s the cost of making sure the right things do get done.