"In most organizations, the bottleneck is at the top of the bottle." ~ Peter Drucker What would happen if your business volume doubled? 🤩 What if you had twice as many clients? 🤩 Twice as many projects? 🤩 Twice as many invoices? 🤩 Twice as many employees? Does this sound like a dream come true, or a nightmare? I had a coach who asked me this question a few years back, and as we talked through it I realized, I was already at my personal capacity. If we added even 20% more business, it would mean that I’d be working all weekend long. That convinced me to find some help. I hired 3 people that year, and the next year my sales grew by 85%! Where is the bottleneck in your … [Read more...]
About Brad Farris
How Steve Jobs ruined one of the most important days of my life!
When I was 13, my best friend and I were nuts about Star Wars. We were determined to be at the very first screening of the sequel Empire Strikes Back at the big 70mm Dolby Equipped theater in nearby Cupertino. We arrived at the theater 4 hours before the first show to get in line to buy tickets. Waiting in the hot sun, we eagerly debated what the sequel had in store for us. As we approached noon, the time of the first showing, the line showed no sign of moving. Instead, a bunch of folks walked up that appeared to be cutting in front of the line! This caused a lot of consternation from those of us gathered! Who’s busting in front of us? Soon news filtered back that a local company … [Read more...]
5 things it took me WAY TOO LONG to learn
Celebrating our 20th anniversary has caused me to look back on the journey of getting here. One thing that happens in that process is that I see all the places where I stumbled, things I had wrong, and choices I wish I’d made differently. Hoping that this experience can at least provide an example that others can learn from, here are some things that it took me way too long to learn. What will serve? Who you are is more important than what you’ve done. Slow growth is OK You can’t do it all yourself Give it all away I’d love to hear from you; what lessons took you WAY TOO LONG to learn? … [Read more...]
Anchor Advisors turns 20
“Take your victories, whatever they may be, cherish them, use them, but don’t settle for them.” ~ Mia Hamm Tomorrow is the 20th anniversary of the founding of Anchor Advisors. I’ve been out on my own for two decades now! What does it mean to make it 20 years? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 20% of private businesses survive into their 20th year. My business has been in business longer than more than 50% of the S&P 500. When I started Anchor Advisors, Apple had just released the first version of macOS X, Europe didn’t have a centralized currency, There was no LinkedIn, Skype, or Facebook. To make my first business card, I used MS Publisher. When I created my first … [Read more...]
Do you have a monkey running your life?
In our last two conversations, we talked about how easy it is to get captivated by our business. So much so that it can be hard to stop working. But even when we do get the chance to take a break, it can be hard to rest. If you’re like me, the challenge of quieting my “monkey mind” has gotten a lot worse in the last year or so. What’s the monkey mind? The human mind is a part of your brain that deals with higher-level functioning. It’s what makes us “human,” thoughtful, and purposeful. When we’re working or relating to friends and family, we want to be using our human mind. However, the human mind is computationally intensive – it can only do so much at once. If we’re tired, … [Read more...]
Developing Your Market Positioning Strategy
Give Your Marketing Strategy a Solid Foundation How do you create strong brand positioning in your market? By developing a market positioning strategy. Marketing strategy can be intimidating. You understand sales, of course. But marketing? Why do you do it, and what’s it really for? And how do you write a positioning statement? Why you need marketing Marketing is one of the most powerful tools your business has. In the long term, it determines your success. It creates awareness, boosts reputation, and helps to develop and maintain demand. Marketing informs your customers about what you do, for who, how, and why. Without this, there will be no sales to make. When you have a … [Read more...]
How I learned to love time off
In my last email, I talked about how intoxicating it can be to work hard at something you are fully engaged in. Especially when you can see how your extra effort results in quick wins for your business. It feels great. It is so great that I will give up rest, time with my family, doctor appointments, vacations, you name it, if it would further my business. One day, I realized that’s the textbook definition of an addict. Addict: a person with an uncontrolled compulsion to continue engaging in an activity despite suffering negative personal or professional consequences. But still, I didn’t want to stop. “I’m not an addict; this is just a busy time.” “I love what I do; … [Read more...]
The future is not guaranteed
“No valid plans for the future can be made by those who have no capacity for living now.” ~ Alan Watts There’s something special about owning your own business. Every additional ounce of effort you put into it directly drives your success. You can see it right at the moment. It’s so intoxicating and invigorating at the same time! Over the years, that feeling has lead me to tell a few lies. Like these: “Once I get this project finished, I’ll cut back on my work hours…” “I just need to grind really hard for the next year or two, then we’ll have made it and I can slow down…” “When I get up early before everyone else is up, I can put in a few extra hours without anyone … [Read more...]
How to Specialize Your Agency
How to Unlock the Advantages of Specialization in a Service Firm In the start-up world, there’s an obsession with finding your product-market fit -- that point where you find the right mix of features, benefits, pricing, and marketing messages that capture the needs and desires of your target market in a way that makes them come toward you, that makes closing deals easy. It sounds like a miracle, but I’ve seen it happen for creative agencies and service firms too. When they start out, they build some momentum, but then growth stalls. Some agency owners keep grinding on trying to push their way through it. Others pivot and innovate a new way to offer their services -- … [Read more...]
A step-by-step guide to finding your niche
If you’ve been reading along for any length of time, you’ve heard me talk about the value of specialization. When you specialize, it gives you more opportunity to learn and get better results for clients. Prospects love to hire specialists – so it makes it easier to get deals to close. When you know who you are speaking to, it’s easier to know where to go and what to say. When you pick a niche, it’s like switching your game to “easy mode.” This advice to specialize isn’t just something I’ve been saying – it’s pretty standard advice that creative firms' advisors give. What we aren’t always good at is advising about how to go about finding a niche and gaining expertise that … [Read more...]
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