If you’ve led your agency for any length of time, you’ve experienced some ups and downs.

For example, here’s an email I got from an agency owner this week:

I thought the deal would catapult us into a new level of stability. I had verbal commitments and contracts out. In the meantime, we were working on renewals with some current clients, and with the confidence of this new work, I raised prices on them.

Long story short, it all fell through. The new client panicked and didn’t sign, the old clients balked at the new pricing, and we’re back to where we were 3 years ago!

It’s like a punch in the gut.

And worse yet, it feels like it’s all your fault.

After you’ve commiserated with your trusted inner circle, licked your wounds, and surveyed the damage, how do you respond?

For some, a blow like this will be a knock-out. For others, it’s fuel for beginning again.

If there’s one common thread among successful agency owners I’ve talked to, it’s this: they didn’t quit.

How do you gather your strength when you’ve been knocked down? What tools or strategies do you use to continue to do hard things when you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel?

Would you hit reply and give me your best 100-word or less answer to that question? I would love to hear it!