Small Business Articles on Processes

The Signs of Overconfidence and How to Combat It A good leader is confident in themselves and what they do. They take risks and lead by example. They inspire and influence.  Confident leaders are more likely to be successful. But it is important to know where to draw the line. Are you letting your confidence go to your head? The problem with being an overconfident leader The overconfident leader is someone who overestimates their own skills and capacity to lead. They rate themselves at a higher level than they deserve to be. This is known as the Dunning-Kruger effect: a phenomenon in which incompetent people often have an inflated view of their own abilities. I’ve heard it … [Read more...]

How to Be a More Confident Leader When you own a creative agency, never underestimate the importance of self-confidence in leadership. Your business success is founded on building your confidence as a leader. You see, self-confidence is the keystone that allows your leadership to flourish. When you feel confident, the confidence levels of your team will improve. I recently read an article by Francisco Dao in Inc.com, in which he eloquently explains why confidence is the number one of leadership qualities: ‘Self-confidence is the fundamental basis from which leadership grows. Trying to teach leadership without first building confidence is like building a house on a foundation of … [Read more...]

Don’t Let Your Growth Stall The process of scaling a company is not easy. Scaling your creative agency can be even more difficult. There are many common mistakes that people make when scaling their business and these can lead to stagnation of growth – or, in the most serious cases, business failure. This article outlines the mistakes that stifle growth, and which are commonly made by owners of creative agencies. We also share tips to help you avoid making the same mistakes. “Why isn’t my business growing?” One of the most common questions we encounter from business owners is why their business is not growing as they think it should. While there are many … [Read more...]

How to Take Control of Your Business by Turning Down New Opportunities Your agency is finally growing its business, but some things feel out of control. You’re learning that entrepreneurship is a roller coaster ride. One moment you’re up, the next you’re down.  The only difference between the real world of business and the fantasy world of a theme park is that you have no idea when the next trough and peak of your journey are going to hit your business. You win deals and lose them. You find the perfect person to hire, but they get ‘stolen’ by a competitor. You design the perfect marketing campaign, only to screw up your landing page so it doesn’t … [Read more...]

Are you overthinking your way to growth? You’ve got to the point where you need to scale your business to grow your business. But something is holding you back.  When you first started your agency, you had nothing to lose and everything to gain. That dynamic has changed. You want to grow your business, but you have much to lose. Everything you have built your firm to be. Your income, your status, and your reputation. The thing is unless you take action to scale your agency, then you will never break free of the position you are in. Your business will rely on you. What if you are ill? What if you want to get away for a few months? How do you reap the rewards of the success you … [Read more...]

How to Scale Your Creative Agency for Sustainable Growth So, you want to scale your creative agency. Companies scale to add revenue to their business operations, right? I mean, you’ve heard others talking about business growth and how scaling is the path to successful customer acquisition and increasing revenues and profit. The thing is, it’s still a mystery to you. What does scale mean in business, and what do you need to do in order to scale? In this article, I introduce you to scale, and answer three questions that our clients commonly ask when we discuss scaling a small business: What is scale in business? What does scaling a business mean? What are my … [Read more...]

When You Say No to Something, You Say Yes to More As the leader of a creative agency, you are constantly bombarded with opportunities from often unexpected sources. So, you take on projects and tasks, fearful of losing out on revenue. It can be difficult to know when to say no and walk away. However, there are times when saying no is a wise decision. The power of no allows you to focus on what is most important to improve the overall health of your business. The benefits of saying no are numerous: it reduces stress, increases productivity, increases happiness, improves innovation & creativity, reduces the possibility of business owner burnout… need I go on? Benefits of saying … [Read more...]

An Introduction to the U-Curve Remember when you first started your creative agency, and you got your first client? Best feeling in the world. It was proof that your business could be successful and profitable. That’s a high that is hard to recreate. Maybe it’s why so many first-time business owners go on to become serial entrepreneurs. As you add more clients early on, profitable growth is easy to achieve. But as your business grows further, there is danger ahead. You may be there already, or coming to a tipping point. In this article, I’m going to describe the U-curve. It’s vital that you understand this principle. If you don’t, you could make a big mistake … [Read more...]

Moving from an Individual Contributor to a Leader in Your Own Business You’ve taken the big first step to exponential growth. You’ve decided to get out of your own way. You’re going to stop struggling to do everything yourself or be involved with everything yourself. But you haven’t quite got there yet.  Though you have reduced your workload, you haven’t yet got to the magical pivot point where you work on the business, not in the business. You’re still involved in the day-to-day operations.  Why is this? How do you work on business, not in it? Changing to Working on Your Business Not in Your Business Though you are doing less yourself, you … [Read more...]

Four Keys for Growth Creative agencies require the management of sometimes unpredictable people and services. But this doesn’t mean you have to suffer unpredictable sales growth. Despite the uncertainty and variability that you have accepted as part of your business, there are growth strategies for creative service firms like yours that will produce a steady upward trajectory for revenues and success. I’ve condensed these into the following four strategies for growing professional firms: Know what business you are in and what drives your success. Deliver consistent high-quality services that provide terrific value for your clients.  Have a consistent and … [Read more...]