You know my drill – you’ve taken a huge risk in starting or buying an agency. I want to make sure you get the rewards that should accompany those risks. Most agencies have a few KPI (key performance indicators) or agency metrics they track. Unfortunately, most agencies track the wrong ones, like gross billings. I [...]
"We are the average of the five people that we hang out with the most." Jim Rohn is famous for making that statement and I believe he was absolutely right. But most business leaders won’t take the time to be thoughtful about the people they surround themselves with and I think that’s short-sighted. Who are [...]
In the research that AMI does every year, one of the things we hear is that clients are looking for agencies that can bring them fresh concepts, big ideas and innovative solutions. So, what do these kinds of innovation initiatives look like and how do agency owners inspire that kind of thinking inside their shop? [...]
Why is communication important in leadership? If you’ve been struggling to work with some of your team members, odds are you have not embraced the idea that employees need clarity. Truth be told — most agency leaders struggle with this, especially if they are offering constructive criticism or even tougher — disciplinary action. Agency owners [...]
All you need is love. The Beatles put it to music but my podcast guest Steve Farber has taken those words to heart and put them into action! Steve is an advocate for extreme leadership and has built his business on the framework of love, energy, audacity and proof (LEAP), the four characteristics of an [...]
Humorist Dave Barry once said, “If you had to identify, in a single word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be “meetings.” Most of you feel the same way. The last thing you need is another meeting but I am here [...]
One of the goals of many agency owners is to build a business that has enough value that someone will want to buy it from them down the road. If you got a call with a cash offer for your agency tomorrow -- would you be ready? Would your agency be? That’s exactly what happened [...]
Whether you want to improve the skill, leadership and commitment levels of your current team to elevate them to be the best they can be or you need to add a superstar to your roster – you have to be able to assess their skills, attitudes, behaviors and motivations. How do you make increasing employee [...]
Agency owners are creative by nature and as such, our minds are churning 24/7 with ideas and new initiatives we want to experiment with and implement. But which ones are worthwhile? What should we pursue and what should we skip over? It’s helpful to have a sounding board to explore these potential directions before you [...]
You look at your employees and you see what’s possible. They’re capable of even more. But what’s in the way of coaching and mentoring employees so that they can get there? There are lots of reasons, but the biggest one is you. You have to make the time for coaching and mentoring employees if you ever [...]
