If you’ve been listening to the news the last few weeks, you’ve likely heard about inflation and the fears that it will cause a recession in the US economy. What does that mean for how you should be managing and leading your agency? First, what is a recession? A recession occurs when economic growth slows…
“Don’t get too high with your highs, don’t get too low in your lows.” I have heard my clients, agency founders, describe leading their firm like they are riding a rollercoaster. One minute they were on cloud 9, they closed a big deal or had a client presentation dripping with insights, and their clients clearly…
For a minute, let’s imagine that there are two parallel worlds. In one world, we’ll call it the rosy world; opportunity is plentiful. When you need new business, you can find it. Not just any client, but good profitable clients who value you at your best. When I meet clients living in the rosy world,…
Whenever I see someone’s calendar and it looks like a failing game of Tetris, it reminds me of that Anti-drug PSA from the ’80s. Because if I tried to manage that many meetings, changing topics and keeping track of everything, my brain would fry. One of the first assignments I work on with clients is…
You work hard, harder than you did when you worked for someone else. You are forced to learn about things, like employment law, or payroll taxes, that you don’t care to learn about. Over and over again you find yourself on the edge, a place where you learn a ton, and that also keeps you…
When I worked as a consultant, I frequently found myself having conversations with team members who reported to the agency founder that would go something like this: Team Member: If my boss would only do these three things differently, what a difference it would make… [Then I’d listen to a long explanation about ways the…
When last I wrote we talked about the fact that if you wanted to see change, in your business or your life, you needed to change. (Then Memorial Day weekend happened and I missed a whole week of emailing!) I got quite a response to that email! Some thought it was a little harsh, some…
I spent over 15 years as a consultant. During that time clients would hire me to fix a “problem” that they had in their business. Their new business system was broken, their margins were terrible, they had too much turnover, etc. They had a problem, my job is to fix it. Most of the agency…
There’s no right way to run your business. No one can tell you that you have the wrong goals. Do you want to be famous? Do you want to be influential? Do you want to have a huge audience? Do you want to maximize your financial rewards? You can do that. Do you want the…
Remember that client I told you about on Tuesday? The one whose energy was low, who was discouraged and started thinking about looking for another job? After we took a different perspective and she started to see a clear way forward she easily laid out a plan to get the outcomes she’s been looking for….