Survival Tactics for Agency Owners

- Hey everybody, Drew McLellan here from Agency Management Institute. This week, I am coming to you from my back deck. As you can see behind me, winter is here. This week, we got over 14 inches of snow and I've been trying to help the birds and the squirrels hang in there, because you know what? They're having to work very hard just to survive the day right now. And honestly, I think that's how a lot of you are feeling, as well. I think you survived 2020, you took the holidays off, but you're still feeling like you just can't get all of your mojo, you're tired, you're worn out, it's hard to rise to the occasion of firing up your team. And I want to give you a morning routine that I think can help with that, okay? And again, I'm not a self-help guy, this is not what I do for a living but I know how entrepreneurs think and work. I know how agency owners, in particular, think and work. I think this will help you. And honestly, I know because it's helping me. All right! So, there's three things I want you to do in the morning. So, when you get up, I know all of you have a normal morning routine. It might be meditation or prayer time. It might be some exercise. Right after that's done, before you look at your email, I want you to do these three things: 1. The night before, I want you to identify the most important thing you have to get done that day. So on Monday night, I'm going to identify the most important thing I have to get done on Tuesday and I'm going to get it done immediately after whatever my morning routine is, with prayer, meditation, yoga, exercise, working out, whatever it is, breakfast. I'm going to get that done before I check my email. Number 1. And don't freak out. At the most, for most of you, it's an hour-long, maybe a two-hour task, so the most you're going to be away from your email is a couple of hours. Everyone will survive. 2. I want you to identify the most important role you play that day. So, let's say the most important role you can play today is to be a mentor to a specific employee and you know you have your one-on-one. So, I want you to write these down. 1. What is the one thing I have to get done? One and done, I got to get it done. 2. Most important role. So, it might be dad. It might be partner. It might be a mentor. It might be in service of a community project, like a volunteer. It could be strategist with a client. Whatever it is, write it down, and decide how you're going to do that. So if it's mentor, in my one-on-ones with my employees, I might really encourage them and really identify things that they've done well and sort of celebrate that, whatever that is. And the third thing I want you to do is I want you to identify a person, a person who you think is pretty awesome, who has helped you, who has helped other people, who lives a life that you admire. So, this is someone you know, right? It could be your mom. It could be a sibling. It could be a co-worker. It could be a peer. So, I want you to identify that person and then however you feel comfortable, text, email, send a card in the mail. I want you to, just in a couple sentences, tell them why you think they're special. I think one of the ways we can lift ourselves up is by lifting up others. So, again, one and done, the one thing you got to get done today, do it before you check email. All three of these things may happen before email. 2. The role. What is my most important role today? Identify what it is and how you're going to live that today, what are you going to do to advance that role today? And it might be a phone call, it might be sending an email, it might be spending time with someone, whatever it is. And then the third thing is who can you love on today? So, it's one and done, most important role, and who can I lift up today? And how do I want to do that: by text or email or sending a card? Okay? I'm telling you, if you will follow that routine for 30 days, you're going to feel a whole lot more energy, you're going to feel a whole lot more accomplished like you've gotten some good things done, and you're going to feel good because you're lifting up other people, that you are honoring your most important role, and you're recognizing people who you think are pretty special. Give it a try and let me know how it goes. I think you're going to find that this is a routine that you're going to want to do much longer than 30 days. But give it 30 days. All right? I'll see you next week.