Silicon Valley venture-capital-funded start-up companies have created a whole world of business advice and jargon to go with it. Much of that advice is irrelevant to the small, privately funded service firm owners reading this! However, one VC concept I find fascinating is “Product Market Fit.” (Or PMF as the tech bros call it.) Because…
I was talking with a friend who owns his own business. I often tell him that he’s my business hero – he makes a terrific living for his family and significantly impacts his clients – and does it all in less than 20 hours a week. But that’s a story for another day… Anyway, He…
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,…
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…
As we’ve leaned into getting ourselves out of the day-to-day grind by letting go of doing the thing and focusing on building the system that does the thing, I want to pause and think about “the why.” If you let go of the thing you trained your whole life to do; you need a powerful…
I’m in an agency owner’s slack channel where it’s common to ask questions about how to improve and grow businesses. I enjoy popping in every few days and joining in the conversation! Last week, one question stopped me in my tracks. This agency owner asked: “If anyone is willing to share, I’d like to know…
It’s hard for a creative agency to serve more than 10 – 20 clients at a time. It splits your brain in too many ways. For most creative agencies, growth is getting bigger clients, not more clients. Successful new business efforts might mean closing 5 – 10 new clients every year. That would be a…
Marketing is the lifeblood of sales in any business. It is founded on your positioning statement. Do you know how to create strong brand positioning in your market?
Ambient risks have skyrocketed. Economic, social, and public health risks are massively higher than they were last year. This includes the risk of hiring a professional services firm. People hire these experts to reduce their risk of negative outcomes. For example: The money I spend hiring these experts reduces my risk of adverse outcomes and…
The creative services business requires managing and selling a rather unpredictable product – people. But, this doesn’t mean your business and its success must be equally unpredictable. Creative services companies can realize steady growth and success – even with the uncertainty and variability that accompanies managing and selling people’s services. Here are four key strategies…