With apologies to the Spice Girls, the first question I typically ask agency owners when I begin to work with them is “tell me what you want, what you really, really want.”
You take on the risk and stress of owning and operating your own business, so you need to keep your own goals in mind when plotting your future growth.
If you don’t get what you want from the agency, you will be unhappy and your business won’t perform as well as it could.
That’s why the methodology I created to help agencies grow — the AIM-GET Framework — has Ambition as the first step. Knowing what you want helps you chart a more successful path forward.
I’ll explain a bit more about this concept a little later in this week’s newsletter, but first let’s take a look at what Jen has rounded up for us this week.
— Chip Griffin, SAGA Founder
Upcoming Events
- Roundtable: Agency website reviews (October 23)
- Webinar: Step-by-step guide to starting a podcast for your agency (November 7)
Latest from SAGA
- Webinar replay: How to accelerate your agency’s growth in the year ahead
Weekly Roundup
Below are some articles, blog posts, podcasts, and videos that we came across during the past week or so that provide useful perspective and information for PR and marketing agency owners. While we don’t necessarily endorse all of the views expressed in these links, we think they are worth your time.
— Jen Griffin, SAGA Community Manager
Articles & Blog Posts
- M&A Dictionary of Common Terms (Punctuation)
- How To Create a 5-Year Business Plan for Your Agency (Template) (AgencyAnalytics)
Podcast Episodes
- A Game-Changing Approach to SME-Driven Content Creation (Spin Sucks)
- Cheesy Lessons In Crisis Management From A Viral Mishap (That Solo Life)
- Making the Web Inclusive: Accessibility and Compliance (The Digital Agency Show)
- Building a Global Talent Pipeline, with Phillip Rivers (The Innovative Agency)
- 200th Episode Special (2Bobs)
- How to lead teams, clients, audience & even yourself, with Dr Bill Gentry (The Personal Brand Business Show)
- 3 IMPACTFUL STRATEGIES for Long Term, Sustainable Agency Growth with Seth Odell (Smart Agency Master Class)
- Jonathan Baker on Preparing Your Agency for a Successful Acquisition (The Digital Agency Growth Podcast)
Videos
- Employee burnout, adapting to change, and handling tough clients (Sakas and Company)
- Exclusivity (Agency Management Institute)
AI in Focus
What do you really want as an agency owner?
This will sound selfish because it is: every agency owner should be molding their business to deliver the results that they want personally.
We all have different goals. We are all at different stages of our lives and careers.
But we all have in mind how much we want to make, how many hours we want to work, and what type of work we want to do. And that’s just the beginning of our list of personal goals for our businesses.
When I work with agency owners on an Agency Business Checkup, I start by understanding what their individual goals are. That’s why the “A” in the AIM-GET Framework stands for Ambition.
It is important to be selfish as an owner because you will underperform if you aren’t getting the results that you want.
Underperforming hurts your team and even your clients, so getting that part of the equation right really matters.
I encourage my clients to write down their specific goals in terms of hours worked and how that time breaks down into different types of tasks. I want them to be clear about how much they need to earn and how much they would ideally like to earn (understanding that most of us don’t have a clear cap, of course).
You also need to know what other goals you might have: giving back to the community, funding your family’s retirement, maintaining flexibility for personal commitments, achieving recognition from your peers, creating a legacy for your family, or whatever else you can imagine.
With this knowledge in mind, you can more easily evaluate different potential paths. Your agency’s annual planning then becomes an extension of your personal ambition.
If your goal is to have more time for yourself, you won’t be so quick to accept new tasks for yourself instead of delegating.
If your goal is to put more money in your pocket, you will focus less on vanity metrics like revenue and headcount and more on profitability.
If your goal is to sell the business, you will devise ways to become less critical in day-to-day operations of the agency.
But if you don’t have these goals in mind as you make decisions, you will end up letting your business run you.
This is why I discourage focusing on questions like “what should an agency of my size be doing?” or “how much time should I spend as an owner on X, Y, or Z task?”
These are questions that are best answered by understanding the selfish desires of the owners. Yes, you can learn from others. But there is no one-size-fits-all solution that dictates your path forward.
By being just a bit selfish, you will get what you want while delivering better results for your clients and your team.
SAGA Roundtable: Agency website reviews
Most agency websites serve as a reflection of the firm’s overall position and messaging. It’s the virtual front door that prospective clients and employees see first.
Your website not only makes that first impression, it serves as a good platform for honing your identity in a way that you can carry forward throughout all of your communications.
In this interactive Roundtable event, you can share your website with Chip Griffin and get feedback from him. All participants will also be able to join in with their own questions and share their thoughts with their peers.
This is a great opportunity to get some valuable feedback about your agency’s website — without any cost or judgement!
To register for the roundtable from 1- 2 PM ET on Wednesday, October 23, click here.
