For the last few days, I’ve been comparing the process of bringing new money into your business to the process of gathering firewood. The most common reply I’ve gotten is some form of, “Sure Brad, but gathering firewood is easy, finding clients is hard! If I could just find clients lying on the ground that…
I imagine that you’re in a cabin in the woods. You’ve been gathering firewood every day for months. Firewood is piled all the way around your cabin, and yet, you feel compelled to collect more. You have to go farther and farther to get firewood; the once beautiful forest has been stripped of anything that…
I imagine that you’re in a cabin in the woods. You notice late one afternoon that you’re almost out of firewood. How do you respond? Do you panic? Do you worry or run around decrying how unfair this is? Do you count your sticks of firewood and develop a plan to ration them out? “How…
You’ve been cultivating this lead for a while, truthfully, for years. They finally have a project that would be perfect for you, and as luck would have it, you reached out just as they were thinking about how to get it done. You’re in the door – and there’s an actual project on the table….
On Saturday, I gave you the assignment to think about, “What would I do if I didn’t need the money?” Did you do that? What did you come up with? Now that you have some goals that hopefully don’t involve starting another business, let’s think about how we could include some of those goals in…
What if, at some time in the future, your dreams of business success come true? Imagine you’ve got a successful business that brings in good money. What more do you want out of life? What goals do you have, or would you have, if your money needs were taken care of? Because there’s got to…
Either because the client wasn’t clear, or your team didn’t perform, you end up behind the eight-ball looking to rescue a project that’s already behind budget with a possibility of a disappointed client. You might feel like you need to put in some extra time or get the team to work extra hard on something…
If I boil things way down, a leader’s job is to think. Leaders need to have a perspective on the future and maneuver their firms to take advantage of that future. The only way to do that is to spend time reading, talking to people, and making connections by thinking. One heuristic to tell how…
I’ve started creating something brand new, and it’s just for you. Well, I’m creating it just for my coaching clients, but I’m letting you in on the secret! I have the privilege of talking to 10 – 12 ambitious, intelligent, creative agency founders each week. It’s inspiring and engaging to work alongside them as you…
In Tuesday’s email, I talked about a mentor who challenged me to “Ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.” Attempting to do that led me to see some deep fears driving much of my hurry and busyness. If I want to be less busy, I have to say “no” to more things. But saying no terrified…